Mobile and portable screen to view an image recorded by a camera

ABSTRACT

Methods and apparatus to create and display screen stereoscopic and panoramic images are disclosed. Methods and apparatus are provided to generate multiple images that are combined into a stereoscopic or a panoramic image. An image may be a static image. It may also be a video image. A controller provides correct camera settings for different conditions. An image processor creates a stereoscopic or a panoramic image from the correct settings provided by the controller. A plurality of lens/sensor units is placed on a carrier. Lens/sensor units are rotationally aligned. A controller rotationally aligns images of lens/sensor units that are rotationally misaligned. The camera is enabled to communicate via a wired or via a wireless connection, with a separate, mobile, ultrathin, ultralight, display with a large display screen not smaller than 25 by 20 cm in a first embodiment of the present invention and not smaller than 20 by 15 cm in a second embodiment of the present invention to provide color images including video images in real-time. A compact controllable platform to hold and rotate a device with a lens/sensor unit is also provided.

STATEMENT OF RELATED CASES

This application is a continuation of and claims the benefit of U.S.Non-provisional patent application Ser. No. 12/983,168 filed on Dec. 31,2010, which is incorporated herein by reference. Application Ser. No.12/983,168 claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent ApplicationSer. No. 61/365,347, filed on Jul. 18, 2010, of U.S. Provisional PatentApplication Ser. No. 61/322,875, filed on Apr. 11, 2010, and of U.S.Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/291,861, filed on Jan. 1,2010, which are all incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.Patent application Ser. No. 12/983,168 is a continuation-in-part of U.S.Non-provisional patent application Ser. No. 12/634,058 filed on Dec. 9,2009, which is a continuation-in part of U.S. Non-provisional patentapplication Ser. No. 12/538,401 filed on Aug. 10, 2009, now U.S. Pat.No. 8,355,042 issued on Jan. 15, 2013, which are all incorporated hereinby reference in their entirety. Application Ser. No. 12/538,401 claimsthe benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/106,025,filed Oct. 16, 2008, and of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No.61/106,768, filed Oct. 20, 2008, which are both incorporated herein byreference in their entirety. Patent application Ser. No. 12/983,168 isalso a continuation-in-part of U.S. Non-provisional patent applicationSer. No. 12/435,624 filed on May 5, 2009 now U.S. Pat. No. 8,164,655issued on Apr. 24, 2012, which is incorporated herein by reference inits entirety. Application Ser. No. 12/435,624 claims the benefit of U.S.Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/089,727, filed Aug. 18, 2008,and of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/055,272, filedMay 22, 2008, and of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No.61/054,290, filed May 19, 2008, which are all incorporated herein byreference in their entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to digital image devices. Morespecifically, it relates to a thin and large and light weight displaythat is connectable to a portable computing device which has a digitalcamera. The camera being able to record single image in one embodimentand at least 2 images concurrently in a second embodiment and generate astereoscopic image from those at least two images, or a panoramic imageor a stereoscopic or panoramic image related to an existing image to bedisplayed on the thin and large connectable display.

Digital cameras are increasingly popular. The same applies to cameraphones. The digital images taken by these devices use a digital sensorand a memory which can store data generated by the sensor. Data mayrepresent a still image. Data may also represent a video image. Imagesmay be viewed on the device. Images may also be transferred to anexternal device, either for viewing, for storage or for furtherprocessing.

Panoramic images are also very popular and have been created from thetime of photographic film to the present day of digital imaging.Stereoscopic or 3D images are also created by combining two images. Awhole range of tools exists to combine two or more images from a sceneinto a single, combined, hopefully seamless panoramic image or into astereoscopic image. This process of combining is called registering,stitching or mosaicing, especially in the case of panoramic images. Anadvantage of a panoramic image is to provide a view of a scene that isusually beyond what is usually possible with a common camera and havingno or very little distortion. For stereoscopic imaging the combining oftwo images requires to provide the appropriate horizontal parallax tocreate the right depth illusion.

The processes of picture taking for creating a panoramic or stereoscopicimage are processes that have many different technologies, apparatus andmethods. Very common is the method of taking a first picture with asingle lens camera, followed by taking at least a second picture at alater time, and followed by combining the pictures. This method is notvery user friendly or requires complex cameras or complex camerasettings. Furthermore, this method may be troublesome for creating videoimages.

Images taken by a small computing device can usually be displayed on asmall integrated display screen on the computing device. The quality andthe size of such integrated display screens is generally barely adequateand mainly serves to provide feedback on reviewing an image, not forlong time viewing of video or for high quality display of images. Alarge display screen would enable a better image viewing experience.However, a large display screen integrated into a portable computingdevice would defy at least some of the benefits of portability and smallsize. One would also not want to carry a separate heavy and bulkyconnectable display. It would be beneficial to have a large displayscreen in a thin, large and light display device that is easy to carryand connectable to the computing device if so desired.

Accordingly, novel and improved ultra-thin, large and ultra-lightconnectable displays with a large display screen are required.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

One aspect of the present invention presents novel methods and systemsfor recording, processing storing and concurrent displaying of aplurality of images which may be video programs into a panoramic or astereoscopic image.

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, an apparatus isprovided for generating a combined image from at least a first and asecond image of a scene with a camera having at least a first lens beingassociated with a first image sensor for generating the first image anda second lens being associated with a second image sensor for generatingthe second image, comprising an operational memory, enabled to store andprovide data related to a first setting of the second lens including anactive sensor area, the first setting of the second lens beingassociated with data related to a first setting of the first lens, acontroller, applying data related to the first setting of the first lensfor retrieving from the memory data related to the first setting of thesecond lens, the controller using the retrieved data for processingimage data related to the active sensor area of the second sensor tocreate a stereoscopic image.

In accordance with yet another aspect of the present invention thecamera system is provided, wherein the camera system is part of a mobilephone.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram of a camera for panoramic and/or images in frontalview in accordance with an aspect of the present invention;

FIGS. 2 and 3 illustrate a panoramic image created in accordance with anaspect of the present invention;

FIGS. 4, 5 and 6 illustrate a stereoscopic image created in accordancewith yet another aspect of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a diagram of a camera in frontal view in accordance withanother aspect of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a diagram of a camera in rear view in accordance with afurther aspect of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a diagram of a camera in frontal view in accordance with yetanother aspect of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a diagram of a camera in rear view in accordance with yet afurther aspect of the present invention;

FIGS. 11-13 are diagrams of a camera in frontal view in accordance withone or more aspects of the present invention;

FIG. 14 is a diagram of a carrier of lens/sensor units for a camera forstereoscopic and or 3D images in accordance with an aspect of thepresent invention;

FIG. 15 is a diagram of a carrier of lens/sensor units for a camera forstereoscopic and or 3D images in accordance with another aspect of thepresent invention;

FIG. 16 is a diagram of a carrier of lens/sensor units for a camera forstereoscopic and or 3D images in accordance with yet another aspect ofthe present invention;

FIG. 17 is a diagram of a system having a camera and a display inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 18 is a computing device in accordance with an aspect of thepresent invention;

FIGS. 19-21 are diagrams of a camera with a thin large sized displayscreen in accordance with one or more aspects of the present invention;

FIGS. 22-24 illustrate detachable displays in accordance with an aspectof the present invention;

FIGS. 25-30 illustrate connectable large displays in accordance with anaspect of the present invention;

FIGS. 31-33 illustrate large displays with embedded lens/sensor units inaccordance with an aspect of the present invention;

FIGS. 34-36 illustrate small thickness cameras to be integrated with alarge thin display in accordance with an aspect of the presentinvention;

FIG. 37 illustrates a remote controlled platform for a camera inaccordance with an aspect of the present invention;

FIG. 38 illustrates a display in accordance with an aspect of thepresent invention;

FIGS. 39-40 illustrate a remote controlled platform for a camera inaccordance with an aspect of the present invention; and

FIG. 41 illustrates a screen of a display in accordance with an aspectof the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

In earlier inventions the inventor has disclosed methods and apparatusfor creating panoramic images. These inventions will be briefly berecapitulated. FIG. 1 shows in diagram a camera 100 having at least twolens/sensor units 101 and 102. A lens/sensor unit contains a lens thatcorresponds to an image sensor and the image sensor enabled to generatea plurality of signals generated by picture elements on the sensors. Theimage sensor may be a CCD or a CMOS image sensor or any other type ofimage sensor. An image sensor generally provides lines of pixels as datasignals that can be processed by a processor and/or stored in a memory.An image sensor is enabled to generate a single image in one mode, andto generate a video image in a second mode.

An image sensor is associated with a lens. A lens may be combined with asensor in a housing. The combination of a lens with its associatedsensor is called a lens/sensor unit. A lens in one embodiment of thepresent invention is a fixed focus lens. In a further embodiment of thepresent invention a lens has a focus mechanism. A focus mechanism can bea manual focus mechanism, for instance by rotating the lens. In yet afurther embodiment of the present invention, a lens has an auto-focusmechanism. Part of an autofocus-mechanism can be a distance sensor 108as illustrated in FIG. 1. In one embodiment of the present invention,the multiple lenses are controlled by a single distance sensor and basedon a measured distance all of the lenses of the at least two lens/sensorunits are controlled via a single distance sensor. The distance sensoris shown as a sensor 108 outside the lenses. However, in one embodimentof the present invention, the distance sensor for focus setting is athrough-the-lens distance sensor.

In one embodiment of the present invention the at least two lens/sensorunits are applied to combine two images into a single three-dimensionalor stereoscopic image. In that case the camera of FIG. 1 is astereoscopic camera. In one embodiment of the present invention the atleast two lens/sensor units are used to create a panoramic image of ascene. In that case there may be more than two lens/sensor units and thecamera of FIG. 1 is called a panoramic camera.

During a calibration an active area of an image sensor can be defined,the active area being smaller than the actual pixel area of the sensor.Pixels are generally read in horizontal lines, called scan lines. Asensor can also be read in not horizontal lines, vertical lines, slantedlines or in a pseudo-random pattern. The sensor data can be stored in amemory. In accordance with an aspect of the present invention aprocessor processes only pixels or pixel data related to an active areaof an image sensor. In one embodiment of the present invention a memoryonly stores pixels from an active sensor area. In a further embodimentof the present invention a part of the memory is defined that onlystores pixels generated by an active area of a sensor. In a furtherembodiment of the present invention a processor s instructed to readand/or process only data from memory related to an active sensor area.In a further embodiment of the present invention a processor isinstructed to process data depending on its position in a sensor withregards to the active sensor area.

It is well known that more than 2 lens/sensor units may be applied togenerate a panoramic image. For instance 3 or more lens/sensor units maybe applied. To keep the explanation simple only 2 lens/sensor units 201and 202 are shown in FIG. 2. Lens/sensor unit 201 corresponds to lens101 and unit 202 corresponds to lens 102. In manufacturing it may bedifficult to perfectly align the units 201 and 202 along their (usuallyhorizontal) scan lines of the sensors. If one sensor is even slightlyrotated compared to the other it will require additional measures toform an aligned panoramic image.

FIG. 2 shows three objects 203, 204 and 205 in a scene to be recorded bythe camera as a panoramic image. The sensors 201 and 202 are intransformed positions relative to each other, including a translationand a rotation. In order to create a panoramic image during acalibration step that may include determining a distance of the lens toan object and a setting of a lens and/or the camera, for each of thesensors a merge line 206 and 207 is determined. These merge lines helpdefine the active areas of the sensors. An active area of a sensor isthe area of pixels that will be used to create and will appear in thepanoramic image. The merge lines and thus the active area may changewith camera setting and/or distance to objects or other imagingconditions.

Both sensors have an area of overlap, so when their images are combinedalong the merge line 308, as shown in FIG. 3, a panoramic image 300 isformed. One has to address the rotation before images can be merged. Onemay adjust for rotation by for instance instructing a processor to readpixels in such a manner that the read pixel lines are aligned. One mayalso create an adjusted scanning direction based on a measuredrotational misalignment. These adjustments including interpolation takeplace preferably before demosaicing of the raw image data. In oneembodiment of the present invention, areas and parameters in image dataare defined to perform for instance smoothing and blurring and pixelequalization to create a smooth transition between two active pixelareas. In a further embodiment of the present invention the image datais stored and/or displayed as a panoramic image, or the processed or rawbut aligned data is stored in such a manner that a panoramic image isformed by merging two images each created from active sensor areas.(keeping in mind that one may also use three or more lens/sensor units.

In one embodiment of the present invention the camera with at least twosensor/lens units is calibrated for different conditions such asdistance or focus setting, to associate a condition such as focussetting with all required settings to create an appropriate panoramicimage and store those settings in a memory. When during operation of thecamera a particular condition is present, a controller retrieves allassociated settings from the memory and applies all the settings inprocessing image data to generate the panoramic image.

A similar but modified approach can be applied for creating stereoscopicimages. This is illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5. The issue here is alsoalignment of images. But rather than creating a wide image the issue in3D images is to create two images with a predetermined amount ofparallax, so that when displayed appropriately an impression is createdof a 3D image. FIG. 4 shows a stereoscopic camera 400 with twolens/sensor units 410 and 402. In one embodiment of the presentinvention, camera 400 has at least one lens focus sensor. In a furtherembodiment of the present invention camera 400 has an autofocusmechanism that focuses both lenses 401 and 402. The distance between thelenses should be sufficient to create the appropriate stereoscopicimage. One may also create a ‘faux’ stereoscopic image by combining twoimages that were taken with two lenses having a non standard parallaxdistance. The image sensors are shown as 403 and 404 and are in mirrorimage of the front view of the camera 400.

Lens/sensor unit 404 is shown to have a translation and rotationrelative to 403. The rotational misalignment is an angle θr and thevertical (translational) misalignment is dv. The vertical misalignmentmay be measured from an object 409 which is recorded as 409 a by 403 and409 b by 404. In one embodiment of the present invention verticalalignment or merge lines 405 and 406 are defined in image sensors 403and 404. For a stereoscopic image the objects need to be positioned on adisplay screen with a parallax displacement that is proportional to thedistance of the object to the camera. It is assumed that the horizontaldisplacement of the images for the instant distance is dh which isdefined by for instance the distance between the line 406 defined by afeature of the object and the parallax line 409. The images also have avertical displacement dv defined by lines 407 and 408. In general onewould like the vertical displacement to be close to 0.

FIG. 5 shows the aligned images to be appropriately displayed to createa 3D image. This may be done by a lenticular lenses display screen, byusing parallax barriers, by using anaglyphs, by using alternatelyviewing left and right images by for instance using switching glasses orby any other appropriate 3D viewing system.

The rotational alignment is addressed as in the panoramic case. It isknown that for most comfortable viewing by a viewer the rotationalmisalignment should be minimized. The horizontal and vertical alignmentcan be addresses by reading the appropriate pixel lines at theappropriate starting point. As in the case of the panoramic imaging oneshould calibrate the alignment for different conditions, for instancefor different distances, zoom factors, light conditions and the like.FIG. 6 shows the combined images to generate a 3D image with appropriatehorizontal parallax and no vertical displacement.

The camera, in one embodiment of the present invention, is calibratedfor different conditions such as distance or focus setting, and acondition such as focus setting is associated with all required settingsto create an appropriate 3D image and store those settings in a memory.When during operation of the camera a particular condition is present, acontroller retrieves all associated settings from the memory and appliesall the settings in processing image data to generate the 3D image.

The following 5 patent applications describe aspects of image alignmentand calibration for stereoscopic and 3D images and are incorporated byreference herein in their entirety: U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/435,624 filed on May 5, 2009, U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/436,874, filed on May 7, 2009, U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/538,401 filed on 8 October 2009, U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/634,058 filed on Dec. 9, 2009 and U.S. Provisional Patent Application61/291,861 filed on Jan. 1, 2010.

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention a camera isprovided with three lens/sensor units for creating panoramic pictures.This is illustrated in FIG. 7 with lens/sensor units 701, 702 and 703 incamera 700. In one embodiment of the present invention an autofocusmechanism, including a focus sensor is included. In one embodiment ofthe present invention the lenses are single focus lenses.

Each of the images generated by these lens/sensor units can be combinedto create a panoramic image. The camera may also have more than 3lens/sensor units. The units 701, 702 and 703 are arranged in a row. Onemay apply a greater number of lens/sensor units and arrange these indifferent ways, such as multiple columns or multiple rows. FIG. 8 showsthe back side of the camera 700 with a display screen 800 which in oneembodiment of the present invention is divided in at least threesegments 801, 802 and 803. One can select with a button 804 a firstdisplay mode which shows on one segment the complete image of onelens/sensor unit. For instance in the first mode segment 802 shows theimage generated by lens/sensor unit 702. One may also display the imageof other lens/sensor units in a display segment by selecting a displaymode, for instance with button 804.

The camera 700 contains at least a processor to process image data andto control the settings of the camera and the display screen, whereinthe button 804 for instance can be used to select a display mode. Such abutton may take the camera through consecutive modes by pushing itbriefly and a mode is selected by holding the button for a longer periodof time. The camera also contains memory to store pre-set camera anddisplay settings, which have been entered for instance during acalibration. The camera also contains a memory to store image data. Thecamera also contains a processor to process the sensor data according topreset settings and the memory can hold the processed image data, whichcan represent a still image or video images and can be a singlelens/sensor unit based image or an image constructed from at least twolens/sensor units. The components such as controller for instance forcontrolling lens focus, lens aperture and shutter speed, memories,sensor data and image processor are connected internally for instance bya data bus. Such structures are well known to one of ordinary skill inthe art and are not shown in the figures to prevent obscuring theaspects of the present invention with known matter. Details of aninternal processing and communication architecture of a digital camerais disclosed in for instance U.S. Pat. No. 7,676,150 to Nakashima issuedon Mar. 9, 2010 and U.S. Pat. No. 7,667,765 to Turley et al. issued onFeb. 23, 2010 which are both incorporated herein by reference.

In a further embodiment of the present invention a control buttonenables a menu that is displayed on at least a segment of the display,allowing a user to select a mode of display and of taking an image. Animage is recorded in a certain mode when the recording is activated by abutton, for instance button 807. In one embodiment of the presentinvention all images recorded by the sensors are stored and the selectedmode determines how the recorded image is displayed. For instance, inone mode only the image taken by the center lens/sensor unit isdisplayed. In another mode the created panoramic image is displayed.

In one mode the display screen functions as a view finder. The images(either single, or multiple single or panoramic) are shown in that mode,but are not recorded. In another mode the display acts as a view finderand an image is recorded. Often, for instance during performances orduring meetings, people take pictures from a scene in front of them. Toobtain an unobstructed view for a camera they lift the camera abovetheir head. The display of the camera, acting as a viewer, continues todisplay the images thus acting as a light for a person on a distancebehind the camera. In accordance with an aspect of the present inventiona button is provided on the camera that switches off the display whilekeeping the camera in a recording mode. Such a button in a furtherembodiment switches the image display to a separate handheld displaythat shows the image recorded by the camera while the embedded displayof the camera is switched off. This embodiment of a separate handhelddisplay of a camera will be further explained and provided herein.

In a further mode an image is displayed on the display screen that isnot being generated by one of the lens/sensor units but is for instancean archival image that is stored on the camera or that has been madeavailable and transmitted to the display by another device. In oneembodiment of the present invention the image is being displayed on thedisplay screen that serves as a background to compare with an image fromone or more lens/sensor units of the camera. For this purpose the imagemay be displayed in a low intensity. It may be enhanced with edges ofobjects in the image by an edge detector such as a Canny edge detectoras is known in the art. The images viewed on the display screen that areprovided by one or more of the lens/sensor units may be displayed in atransparent mode that overlays the archival or externally providedimage.

This embodiment of the present invention allows one to retake an imageof a scene as close as possible to the original setting. The originalpicture may have been in black and white, or a picture with or withoutpersons or objects. An image may also have been taken under differentweather conditions, during a different season, time of day, or any otherconditions that have been changed. One may want to retake an image orvideo that is as close as possible to the original setting or frame. Forinstance, a picture of a scene was taken with a single lens/sensorcamera, and one wants to retake the picture as a video or as a panoramicor a 3D image. The overlay mode provided herein as one aspect of thepresent invention allows to retaking that image as closely as possibleto the original image.

In a further embodiment of the present invention one may also extractedges from the current image generated by a lens/sensor unit. Imageregistration by comparing edges and transformation of images is known.One may apply an image registration as is known to one of ordinary skillto match lens/sensor setting in such a way that the image generated by alens/sensor optimizes a registration to the background image. Someaspects of using an archival image on a camera to improve an image areknown and are described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,616,248 to Parulski et al.issued on Nov. 10, 2009 which is incorporated herein by reference. Thearchival images in Parulski are displayed and applied differently andnot to retake an image that was taken at a completely different time.Parulski also does not provide an image that is provided by anothercamera. Parulski also does not disclose image matching and does notdisclose using the archival image as a template for retaking the imageas a video or as a panoramic or a 3D image.

The camera 700 also has an external port to dock to another device. Sucha port may be a USB port, which allows the camera to be connected forinstance to a computing device such as a computer for exchanging images.The port may also be used to connect the camera to a display having alarge display screen to display the images taken by one or morelens/sensor units. The port may also be a wireless port.

In many cases a user may have a computing device such as a mobile phonethat has a camera. Such camera may not be enabled to take images in apanoramic or a 3D mode. The camera 700 in a further embodiment of thepresent invention as illustrated in FIG. 8 has a communication port 806that communicates directly with a mobile computing device such as amobile phone. Such a port can be enabled to work in a wired mode. It mayalso be configured to work in a wireless mode. For instance, the cameramay have a port 806 that is a Bluetooth port that can exchange data witha mobile phone. The mobile phone can provide camera 700 with an imagethat serves as an archival image. The camera 700 in one embodiment ofthe present invention provides the mobile phone with image data, forinstance of a panoramic image. The cell phone may have a differentresolution display screen than the camera 700. In a further embodimentof the present invention images are stored in a high resolution and aredownsampled on a device to be displayed in an appropriate resolution ona display screen.

The above provided capability of importing and/or comparing a generatedimage with an archival image enables a further aspect of the presentinvention. In accordance with a further aspect of the present inventionone may import an image that is an image of an object that is segmentedfrom its background. In a further aspect of the present invention thecamera has processing capabilities to segment an object from itsbackground. Such image segmentation algorithms are well known and arefor instance described in an online lecture notes “Segmentation” byProfessor Allan D. Jepson downloaded from<http://www.cs.toronto.edu/˜jepson/csc2503/segmentation.pdf> which isdated as Fall 2009 and which is incorporated herein by reference.

Combined with the above disclosed method and device of overlaying animage, in one embodiment of the present invention the segmented image isinserted into an actual image being taken by a lens/sensor unit in thecamera. One may modify the size of the inserted image by opening a menuon the camera to be shown on the display screen 1002 as shown in FIG.10. An input device 1003 with different button modes can be used toactivate a menu and select a menu option. Device 1003 may also act as amouse to move a cursor over the display screen, to draw and select areasof interest which may contain an object and activate a menu option,which may be an object segmentation. One can thus select to be segmentedobject for instance by drawing a box around the object, which may be aperson. One can also activate a segmentation program to segment theobject from its background. The result, being an image of a segmentedobject, can then be selected by either drawing again a box around it orby clicking on 1003 after selecting it with a cursor. One can select amenu option to resize the selected segmented object. One can also movethe selected segmented object on the display screen by moving a cursorwith multi-directional control button 1003. The segmented object may bedisplayed as a transparent image over the actually imaged scene by alens/sensor unit. When satisfied with the size and position a user mayconfirm a position of the object on the display screen by button 1003and change the image from transparent to opaque. One has thus placed asegmented object in the current image that can be recorded with thecamera.

In a further embodiment of the present invention, even when the objectwas not originally recorded in 3D, the inserted image is synthesizedinto a 3D image from a 2D image. Methods and apparatus there to areknown and are for instance disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,445,833 toMurata et al. issued on Sep. 3, 2002 which in incorporated herein byreference. Preferably, a 2D image is synthesized into a 3D image with aparallax that reflects a desired distance from a point of view on thedisplay screen.

In accordance with a further aspect of the present invention one mayimport a plurality of objects from different sources. For instance, thecamera may be connected to a network, and receive a plurality of imagesfrom different sources via the network. In a further embodiment of thepresent invention, each image has an identifier that allows the camerato determine its relative size and earlier positions a particularsegmented image had on the display screen. This allows the camera toposition the image on a location and at a size that it had in a previousimage. In a further embodiment of the present invention a display with adisplay screen is separate from the camera. For instance the camera maybe connected via a communication port to a computing device having itsown display screen, such as a PDA or a cell phone. This allows a user toposition the camera out of reach, focused on the user. In a furtherembodiment of the present invention control of the camera is provided tothe computing device such as cell phone. In yet a further embodiment ofthe present invention the computing device can open at least one menu onthe display screen of the computing device that enables control of theseparate camera. This allows a user to be part of an image taken by thecamera while retaining control of the camera. In one embodiment of thepresent invention the display and camera are physically separate and areconnected through a wired connection. In a further embodiment of thepresent invention the display and camera are physically separate and areconnected through a wireless connection.

Imported images may be recorded in stereoscopic format. In a furtherembodiment of the present invention one may either receive theconstituting separate 2D components of each image, or one may separatethe stereoscopic image into the constituting 2D components andreassemble the components with a parallax representing a desireddistance from a point of view on the device. In a further embodiment ofthe present invention an imported 3D image is reduced to a 2D image andthe 2D image is synthesized into a 3D image having a parallax thatreflects a desired distance from the object to the point of view.

In another embodiment of the present invention a plurality of users havea camera with remote control and display screen as provided above. Eachcamera is trained and focused on the user and generates a segmentedimage that is shared with at least one other camera.

In a further embodiment of the present invention a camera 900 isprovided for creating a 3D image from at two lens/sensor units 701 and703 as shown in FIG. 9. While the camera may look the same as a 2lens/sensor units panoramic camera, there are differences. In both thepanoramic and 3D cameras the sensors have to be aligned appropriately.However, in the 3D case the lenses (or lens optical axis) should besubstantially or almost parallel. In the panoramic case the lens opticalaxes should be positioned at a slight angle to create a broader field ofvision.

The embodiment of the present inventions as provided above with regardto remote control and image insertion are contemplated to be applied tothe panoramic and the 3D embodiment of a camera.

Recently Sharp Corporation of Japan in a press release dated Apr. 2,2010, which is incorporated herein by reference, announced” “SharpCorporation has developed a 3D touchscreen LCD featuring the industry'shighest brightness that can switch between 2D and 3D modes. Users canview 3D images without the need to wear special glasses, making this LCDideal for mobile devices such as digital cameras, mobile phones, andsmartphones. The newly developed 3D LCD uses a parallax barrier systemto display 3D images. This parallax barrier, which has a series ofvertical slits, is incorporated into an ordinary LCD to control the pathof light reaching the right and left eyes, thus creating a sense ofdepth. However, the conventional 3D LCD with this system had difficultyin displaying high-quality images in 3D mode.”

It may be that cellphone manufacturers are not able or willing to modifya device they market to accommodate 3D and/or panoramic imaging. In suchand in other cases it may be advantageous for a user of such a device topurchase a connectable or even dockable device that can take and/ordisplay panoramic and/or 3D images. For instance, one may take with acamera a panoramic image and send it to the device that is connectedwith the camera. One may also take a 3D image with the camera anddisplay it on the camera, and send the single lens image for display toa connected computing device or the 3D image for storage and/or furthertransfer and/or non-3D display to the connected device.

A camera, in accordance with an aspect of the present invention, is a 3Dcamera having at least 2 lens/sensor units. A camera, in accordance withanother aspect of the present invention, is a panoramic camera having atleast 2 lens/sensor units. A camera, in accordance with an aspect of thepresent invention, is a combined 3D and panoramic camera having at least4 lens/sensor units. One embodiment of the present invention 1100 ofsuch a combined 3D/panoramic camera is shown in diagram in FIG. 11. Acombination of two lens/sensor units 1101 and 1102 may be dedicated to3D images and the optical axes of the lenses are parallel or almostparallel. This allows one lens/sensor unit of 1101 and 1102 to bededicated to generate a single reference image. The distance between thelenses of 1101 and 1102 is in one embodiment of the present inventionpreferably a human parallax distance. At least two additionallens/sensor units 1103 and 1104 in 1100 may be dedicated to takingpanoramic images. To create a wide field of view the optical axes of thelenses are positioned at an angle. One may select the distance of thetwo lenses of 1103 and 1104 to be similar to 1101 and 1102 foraesthetical reasons. The distance may also be different.

In another embodiment of the present invention an additional lens/sensorunit 1201 is placed between 1103 and 1104 as is shown in a diagram of acamera 1200 in FIG. 12. This allows for a higher quality panoramicimage. It also allows for using an image generated by 1201 to generate aneutral or reference image.

In yet another embodiment of the present invention as is shown indiagram in FIG. 13 of a camera 1330 all lenses for 3D and panoramicimage generation are placed on a single line. The lens/sensor units 1301and 1302 are for instance for generating 3D images, while 1303, 1304 and1305 are used for generating a panoramic image.

Other configurations of lens/sensor units are possible and are fullycontemplated. One may have multiple rows of lens/sensor units. One mayarrange lens/sensor units in other patterns with overlap between images.In yet another embodiment of the present invention a camera may have atleast two sets of two lens/sensor units wherein each set has lenses onparallax distance with parallel optical exes, and wherein the opticalaxes of the first set and the at least second set has an angle to createat least two panoramic images which are combined into a panoramic 3Dimage.

FIG. 14 illustrates another aspect of the present invention. It shows alens/sensor carrier 1400 with lens/sensor units aligned attached. It wasexplained above that sensors have to be rotationally aligned to createappropriate panoramic images and to diminish negative effects on 3Dimages. One way to assure alignment is to attach at least twolens/sensor units 1403 and 1404 to a rigid carrier material 1401. Thelens/sensors units can be aligned during manufacturing and/or assemblyof 1400 and should be fixed in their aligned position. Material 1401should be rigid with negligible bending and distortion over thelife-time of the camera. This requires that the carrier will also not bebent or distorted after being assembled into a camera. Alternatively,one may fix at least one lens/sensor unit in an aligned position afterthe carrier is fixed into the camera. As another alternative, a motor1405 that can rotate the lens/sensor unit can be included on the carrier1400. This allows for motor driven alignment of the lens/sensor unit.The motor can be a stepping motor with a mechanism that significantlyreduces the rotation angle of the lens/sensor unit per step. Per motorstep the rotation of the lens/sensor unit is well below 1 degree in oneembodiment of the present invention, and smaller than 1 minute in yetanother embodiment of the present invention. A motor may be an actuatorsuch as a piezo-electric actuator. Piezo-electric actuators areavailable that has a minimum displacement that is below 1 micron, thusallowing rotational displacement of a sensor that is in the single pixelrange.

FIG. 15 shows a further embodiment of the present invention of alens/sensor assembly 1500 with 3 lens/sensor units. Herein an additionallens/sensor unit 1502 is provided. Also lens/sensor unit 1403 isprovided with a motor or actuator 1501 to allow mechanical alignment ofthe sensors.

FIGS. 14 and 15 illustrate the carriers 1400 and 1500 in front view.FIG. 16 shows in diagram the carrier 1500 in side view. FIG. 16 showsthat the optical axis of 1404 is rotated by a slanted support wedge1502. The rotation angle effected by the support in one embodiment ofthe present invention is less than 10 degrees. The rotation angleeffected by the support in another embodiment of the present inventionis more than 10 degrees but less than 30 degrees. The rotation angleeffected by the support in another embodiment of the present inventionis more than 30 degrees

In yet a further embodiment of the present invention, lens/sensor unitsmay be placed on a carrier and bonded to the carrier in a high precisionenvironment. For instance, at least two sensor units may be accuratelyplaced on the carrier and at least rotationally aligned relative to eachother. One can align the sensors in a calibration environment byproviding an alignment image and using a mechanical or robotic highprecision placement mechanism. After fixing the sensors in at leastrotational alignment one may place a lens mechanism over a sensor. Inthat sense a carrier becomes an integrated panoramic and/or 3D imagingunit that is robust and can be placed in a housing of a camera.Electronic components and communication connection may also be placed onthe carrier. The most sensitive stage, which is probably the rotationalalignment can take place in a manufacturing or laboratory environmentthat accommodates this type of high precision positioning and bonding.Such high precision environment is for instance present insemi-conductor processing and is known in semiconductor steppers.

In an additional step one may also provide translational alignment ofthe sensors or the lens/sensor units.

Once the carrier unit with lens/sensor units fixed in aligned positionone may install additional components such as lenses, zoom lenses,auto-focus mechanism, focus mechanism for the lenses if required (whenthe lenses are not fixed focus lenses, which is also possible in afurther embodiment of the present invention) and zoom lenses, aperturesetting mechanism, shutter mechanism, light and distance sensors and thelike which are all known components in photographic imaging. One mayalso provide the correct dimensions, fixtures, buttons, controllers,processors, memory and other electronic components on the carrier. In afurther embodiment of the present invention the carrier with at leastthe lens/sensor controllers and supporting electronics and connectorsmay be in a shape and completeness that allows a camera manufacturer toobtain a complete either panoramic, 3D or 3D/panoramic unit that can beassembled with housing, buttons and knobs, and a display screen intoeither a complete panoramic, 3D or 3D/panoramic camera.

In a further embodiment of the present invention the carrier may includean external communication link or may be attached to a communicationlink or device in the housing that allows communication such as theexchange of data, which may be image data or control/instruction datawith the outside world, such as a computing device.

Preferably, the calibration steps that were already disclosed as anaspect of the present invention are performed during or right after aninitial power up of the electronics on the carrier with the lens/sensorunits attached and the settings stored in for instance a memory, such asa ROM memory. If one achieves a reliable level of accuracy andrepeatability of creating the carrier with lens/sensor units attachedone may skip the actual calibration step for the mass produced carriers,and replace this by downloading the calibration settings from anexternal memory or implement them in an electronic device on thecarrier. The calibration steps are determined from a mother or standardcarrier, which may be used to test the performance of mass producedcarriers against.

In summary, a camera is provided that is a panoramic camera, a 3D cameraor a 3D/panoramic camera. The camera may be a stand alone camera. It mayalso be part of a computing device or a mobile phone. The camera has acommunication interface to communicate with a network or with acomputing device to exchange data, including image data. The camera maytransfer image data to the network or computing device. The camera mayalso transfer status information to the network or computing device. Acomputing device may have a display screen for displaying an image takenby the camera. The camera may also receive data from the network and/ornetwork. The camera may receive image data, instructions to performcertain tasks or processing updates from the network and/or computingdevice. The camera may be connected to for instance a PDA or mobilephone to act as an external imaging device. A connection between thecamera and computing device such as a mobile phone may be establishedvia a wired connection, including a USB port or a wireless connectionsuch as a Bluetooth® connection.

In a further embodiment of the present invention the camera may alsohave a connection directly with a display screen wherein a displayscreen is enabled to display image data but is not enabled to rungeneral purpose computer programs. Devices to display stored documentsare known, for instance as eReaders from for instance Sony® andAmazon's® Kindle®. Apple's® iPAD® has its own display screen, but hasadditional computing capabilities and is in fact its own computingdevice. Computing devices with a display screen are another embodimentof the present invention with which the camera as provided as one ormore aspect of the present invention can communicate with to displayimage data in real-time or substantially in real-time. Some minimaltransmission delay and buffering delay may create a somewhat delayedreal-time experience. It is pointed out that real-time or substantiallyreal-time display of an image, graphics, text, or an interface generatedby a computing device herein is different from a computing devicecompleting an image, text, document or otherwise completed file,transmitting it to a display and the display processing the file to adisplay screen.

FIG. 17 illustrates a display embodiment of the present invention. Thecamera 1700 which may be a panoramic/3D camera in accordance with anaspect of the present invention has a communication port/interface 1701to communicate with a communication port 1708 of a display 1705. Thedisplay 1705 has a display screen 1706 which may be enabled to display3D images. The display has display screen controls 1707 to allow a userto provide instructions related to an image. The controls may be used toadjust contrast, intensity, size of images, instructions to moveforward, back ward in a series of images, zoom, capture, store recallimages and the like. In one embodiment of the present invention, thedisplay 1705 also has a processor and memory/storage to allow processingof an image and storage and retrieving of images. In one embodiment ofthe present invention storage capabilities are temporary and limited toa session, for instance lasting for a period of time that the camera1700 is connected to the display 1705. In one embodiment of the presentinvention processing capabilities of the display 1705 are limited toimage processing and do not provide general computing capabilities.

In yet a further embodiment of the present invention, the display isconnected to a mobile computing device 1800 as illustrated in FIG. 18.The mobile computing device 1800 may include a cellphone with a dial pad1803 a display screen 1802 a pointing device 1804 cellphone capabilitiesand an antenna 1801 to connect to a communication network. It also has acommunication interface 1805 which allows communication with displaycommunication interface 1708. Device 1800 also may have a communicationinterface to communicate with camera interface 1702. Communicationbetween device may be wired or wireless communication links.

The device 1800 has a powerful processor 1806 enabled to run anoperating system such as Microsoft Windows® or Linux or any otheroperating system and applications such commonly used on a computer suchas a wordprocessor, presentation software, communications, e-mail,browsers, spreadsheets, games, scientific software and the like or anyother computer program that can run on a computing device. The device1800 also has mass storage capabilities 1807 to store programs and dataand the like. In a further embodiment of the present invention thedevice 1800 has a projector 1808 which is enabled to project on a screenor a wall an image. It may also have a projector 1809 which is enabledto create a virtual keyboard or input device, such as disclosed by U.S.Pat. No. 7,340,077 to Gokturk issued on Mar. 4, 2008 which isincorporated herein by reference.

The size of device 1800 is very small, and can be carried in a jacket ortrouser pocket or a purse and is significantly smaller than present daylaptop computers such as manufactured for instance by Hewlett Packard®or Apple®. Such a complete computer can be so small because they do nothave bulky input and output devices or storage media such as largemagnetic disks.

In a further embodiment of the present invention the device 1800 hasincluded the camera 1700.

The problem of lacking input/output devices can be solved with locallypositioned display devices 1705, which may be eReader devices asdisclosed above. The devices may have a keyboard or a virtual keyboardfor instance created with screen 1706 being a touch screen or aprojector 1710 which may project a virtual keyboard.

In common situations where people are known to use a computer, such onan airplane, in one embodiment of the present invention a display ispart of an airplane seat. A keyboard may also be part of a seat. Thedisplay and keyboard have communication ports to connect to a computer1800 of a passenger.

In yet a further embodiment of the present invention a camera is part ofan eReader. This is shown in diagram in FIG. 19. The term eReader,herein is used as a term for a thin, large, lightweight display thatacts as a true display, enabled to provide still and video images infull color in real-time, but which is much thinner than a tablet such asthe Apple iPAD®. An eReader in its known form displays a content of afile. The term eReader as an aspect of the present invention includesthe capability to show screens and images in real-time.

It is believed by the inventor that computing is still not fully mobile.A computer requires a processor, storage, input device and a display.Current devices are compromises along the different properties of acomputing device. If they are small, they have usually small displays.With larger displays, computers become bulky and look like the currenttablets or laptop computers. By putting all processing, storage andcommunication capabilities in a very small footprint device andproviding a large, thin and lightweight display that is separate butconnected, wired or wirelessly, to the computing device, a veryportable, mobile and fully usable (with no screen limitations) portableand mobile computer has been provided. The unexpected aspect is that theusability of the device is improved by separating screen/display fromthe actual processor containing device, which is nowadays commonpractice in laptops, PDA, mobile phones, smart phones, known eReaders,tablets and the like.

The novel eReader 1900 has a screen 1901. Such a screen is larger insurface than a standard camera display screen. A lens 1902, which may bea plurality of lenses as discussed above, each lens associated with anoptical sensor is/are captured or manufactured into a housing of theeReader or other portable device 1900 that has a screen. Though manyeReaders currently have a black/white screen which is known as ePaper oreInk, manufacturers at the time of this invention have indicated to moveinto the area of color display screens. There are different technologiesthat can be applied in high quality large color display screens. Oneembodiment is by the technology of Organic Light Emitting Diode or OLEDdisplay screens. Another is a color electrophoretic display screen suchas disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,167,155 to Albert et al. issued on Jan.23, 2007 which is incorporated herein by reference. A furtherpossibility is to use a 3D screen as manufactured by Sharp Corporationas was discussed above. In one embodiment of the present invention onethus creates an eReader with a multi-lens camera as shown in FIG. 19. Ina further embodiment of the present invention a single lens camera as isshown in FIG. 20 is part of an eReader. Its shows an eReader housing2000 with a screen 2001. Incorporated in the housing is a singlelens/sensor unit 2002. In an embodiment of the present invention of FIG.19 an eReader is provided that is also a 3D camera or a panoramic cameraor a 3D/panoramic camera. These cameras are contemplated to have one ormore aspects of the cameras as already described herein.

The advantage is that the display has a large display screen and isportable and preferably has a light weight. The size of a screen in oneembodiment of the present invention is not smaller than a diagonalmeasurement of 6 inches. In another embodiment of the present inventiona size of a screen is not smaller than a diagonal measurement of 10inches. In another embodiment of the present invention a size of ascreen is not smaller than a diagonal measurement of 15 inches. In oneembodiment of the present invention the length and width of a displayscreen is the same. In another embodiment of the present invention thelength is greater than the width.

The large screen size allows an un-paralleled direct view of a recordedimage. Even at relatively low resolution this is an attractive option.The current Apple iPAD® has a color screen with a resolution of1024-by-768-pixel resolution at 132 pixels per inch. A novel eReaderwith a camera and a screen of such a resolution as provided as an aspectof the present invention will provide a completely new experience andenjoyment of taking pictures and video images with instant and real-timereview capabilities.

A novel eReader is provided as an aspect of the present invention toinclude additional functionality as described previously taking picturesor videos.

In another embodiment of the present invention, devices 1900 and 2000are any portable computing device with a display screen, with a lens orplurality of lenses associated with an image sensor or a plurality ofimage sensors 1902 captured or manufactured into a housing of the device1900. FIG. 19 shows how lenses 1902 are provided at the opposite side ofthe housing related to the screen or display. One may provide a housingwith lenses that is hinged to a housing of the display, so one canswivel the lenses in relation to the display.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the devices as shown inFIGS. 19 and 20 are only a camera with a very large display screen andmemory to store data and processing capabilities to display images froman image sensor or from memory on the display and a control to controlthe camera and the screen. In one embodiment no other functionality isrequired and the devices are just digital cameras with a very largeviewing screen. In a further embodiment other capabilities are added. Ina further embodiment these cameras with very large screens have acommunication port to off-load data such as image data, for instance toa computing device. In a further embodiment these device are alsoenabled to receive data through a communication port. In yet a furtherembodiment, these large display screen cameras have additional processorand programming capabilities. Research into display housing and camerahousing at the time of the present invention has not turned up existing,completed or ongoing research to create such a camera, which is believedto be novel and non-obvious. It appears that no one has currently orpreviously articulated what the properties of a large screen, thin andhighly portable camera should be. No consideration has previously beengiven what some properties of such a camera should be and what inventivesteps are required to achieve such a desirable camera or as will beprovided later a large screen ultra-thin and ultra-light and connectabledisplay device.

The realization of this type of camera and display device is enabled byproviding thin, sturdy, light weight housing, small and highlyintegrated powerful processing, memory and communication capabilities,very small lens/sensor units with appropriately sized connectors, lightweight display screens and appropriate power sources. This will enable aportable camera or display device that is ultra-light and ultra-thin andthus ultra-portable with a very large display screen offering a novelexperience in still image and video recording and viewing. In oneembodiment of the present invention, the large display screen camera hasonly one lens/sensor unit. In another embodiment of the presentinvention the large display screen camera has at least two lens/sensorunits.

The camera with large display screen is characterized by its format andits light weight and being thin. It is portable and easy to carry and tostore for instance in a briefcase or portfolio. It has a format thatprovides a large display screen, that is thin and low weight. Forinstance the display screen has a diagonal that is larger than 10 cm inone embodiment of the present invention, larger than 15 cm in anotherembodiment of the present invention, larger than 20 cm in yet anotherembodiment of the present invention and larger than 30 cm in yet anotherembodiment of the present invention. The thickness in one embodiment ofthe present invention is less than 3 cm, less than 2 cm in anotherembodiment of the present invention, less than 1 cm in yet anotherembodiment of the present invention and less than 0.5 cm in yet anotherembodiment of the present invention. The weight in one embodiment of thepresent invention is less than 20 ounces. The weight in anotherembodiment of the present invention is less than 15 ounces. In yetanother embodiment of the present invention the weight is less than 10ounces. The weight and thickness will be determined by power supply,housing, and display screen and the way of selecting, modifying andcombining these elements into a device.

The construction and assembly and its components of an eReader is forinstance disclosed in a Kindle II teardown described in 5 articles on awebsite which includes<http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/english/NEWS_EN/20090421/169102/> datedMay 12, 2009;<http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/english/NEWS_EN/20090422/169162/> datedMay 13, 2009;<http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/english/NEWS_EN/20090424/169296/> datedMay 14, 2009;<http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/english/NEWS_EN/20090427/169398/> datedMay 15, 2009 and<http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/english/NEWS_EN/20090428/169498/> datedMar. 18, 2009 which are all incorporated herein by reference.

The lens/sensor unit may be an integrated lens/sensor unit for instanceas available from Omnivision of Santa Clara, Calif. of which one exampleis the CameraCube. Samsung of Korea also manufactures very thin andpowerful camera modules. For instance on URL<http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/18/samsung-announces-worlds-thinnest-8-megapixel-cellphone-module/>on Mar. 18, 2008 a small ultrathin camera module was shown that wasabout 8.5 mm thin and has a 5 Megapixel sensor and a lens. It is about1.5 by 3 cm in width and length. Such a module can be incorporated in athin housing of a large display or of a reader. The module has internalprocessing capabilities. It is also provided with a connector that makesit easy to connect to other components of a camera, to a processor, to acontroller, to a bus or other communication devices and to a display. Infact several of these modules can be incorporated in the housing toenable a camera as disclosed herein in accordance with one or moreaspects of the present invention. A copy of the article/website isincorporated herein by reference.

Camera controllers are also known and are for instance disclosed in U.S.Pat. No. 6,727,941 to Coleman, issued on Apr. 27, 2004 which isincorporated herein by reference.

A large display screen system with a controller is the iPAD® of which ateardown is provided in<http://www.isuppli.com/News/Pages/User-Interface-Focused-iPad-Changes-the-Game-in-Electronic-Design-iSuppli-Teardown-Reveals.aspx>which is incorporated herein by reference.

In another embodiment of the present invention a large display screenportable device, such as a novel eReader, is enabled to communicate witha camera, such as a camera phone, by wired or wireless communication andis enabled to display an image or video taken by the camera.

A large display screen camera such as provided in FIGS. 19 and 20 in afurther embodiment of the present invention are provided with acommunication device to communicate with another device or with anetwork. One example of such an interface is a Bluetooth interface, ofwhich an extensive description is available on<http://www.bluetooth.com/English/Technology/Building/Pages/Specification.aspx>.An example of a network communication interface is the Wi-Fi interfaceof which a specification is available on <www.wi-fi.org>.

If eInk or similar displays are used either in black/white or color, oneissue may be the refresh rate of the screens. Refresh rates as low as0.1 sec have been reported. Though refresh rates of 0.5 up to 1 sec arealso common. High quality video requires about 50 or 60 frames persecond. These can be achieved by high quality display screens. In caselow refresh rate display screens are used one may still display‘sampled’ video images. For that purpose a display has a controller witha clock that selects images from a sequence of video images that may bestored on a memory in the camera to provide a lower video frame rate toaccommodate the display screen. In one embodiment of the presentinvention a controller selects fewer than one in 10 of the frames froman image sequence to be displayed. Camera phones in general accommodateframe rates of about 15 fps. In another embodiment of the presentinvention a controller selects fewer than 25 fps but more than or equalto 10 fps from an image sequence to be displayed. In another embodimentof the present invention a controller selects more than 25 fps from animage sequence to be displayed. This means that a camera records highvideo rates, up to 60 fps or higher and stores these video sequences,for instance to be played on an external display, but selects a lowerdisplay screen rate to accommodate a refresh rate of a current display.

In another embodiment of the present invention a camera records imagesat a lower than 60 fps rate. For instance a display screen of the cameramay be the main display screen for displaying images. No higher qualityfps display in such an embodiment of the present invention isenvisioned, and only a reduced video frame rate is implemented. In oneembodiment of the present invention the recording rate is less than 10fps. In another embodiment of the present invention the video rate islower than 25 fps but higher or equal than 10 fps. In another embodimentof the present invention the video rate is equal to or higher than 25fps.

In a further embodiment of a device having a large display displaysimage data that is to be displayed on a screen that is of a higherresolution quality than is displayed on the current display screen. Inone embodiment the device with the large display screen performsdownsampling of the higher resolution image data. In another embodimenta separate computing device performs downsampling of the higherresolution image data before it is transmitted to the display device.

In one embodiment of the present invention a thin camera device 2100with a large display screen 2101 as shown in diagram in FIG. 21 has alarge display screen that is rectangular but not square. One preferredway to display an image such as a still image or a video is in landscapeformat as shown in FIG. 21. In another embodiment of the presentinvention the device 2100 is a multi-purpose computer or an eReader forinstance. As an eReader the device can be used in portrait mode. Amulti-lens unit 1902 as shown in FIG. 19 in the shown position can take3D and panoramic images in landscape mode. One may want to take imagesin landscape mode even if the display screen is oriented in portraitmode. This is shown in an embodiment of the present invention as shownin FIG. 21. The multi-lens unit 2102 is part of a rotatable housing.This housing can be rotated by pushing for instance a protrusion 2103from position 2104 (in landscape position) to position 2105 (in portraitposition). In position 2105 the image can be shown in diminished size asa landscape image on a display screen in portrait orientation. The imagecan be stored and be displayed as a landscape image on the displayscreen in landscape orientation also.

Stand-alone digital picture frames are increasingly popular. These allowthe display of a picture taken by a digital camera on a computer displayscreen. Such a digital picture frame is for instance disclosed in U.S.Pat. No. 6,975,308 to Bitetto et al. issued on Dec. 13, 2005 which isincorporated herein by reference. However, these digital displaysrequire a connection to connect to a computer device and/or a camera. Inone embodiment of the present invention, a digital picture display isprovided wherein the camera is part of the display as is shown in forinstance FIGS. 19-21.

In a further embodiment of the present invention a display screen of aportable and self contained computing device is part of a detachableportable and self contained display. This is illustrated in FIG. 22 witha computing device 2200 and a detachable display 2206 with a screen2211. The computing device 2200 communicates with the display 2206through a port 2201 in the computing device with a communication port2205 in the display 2206. The communication ports 2201 and 2205 maycommunicate in one embodiment of the present invention in a wiredmanner. This may be for instance a wired USB connection. In oneembodiment of the present invention the communication ports 2201 and2205 are wireless communication ports that include wireless circuits andantennas to communicate. For instance the connection may be a wirelessBluetooth connection. It is emphasized that in one embodiment of a largedisplay screen in an ultra-thin and ultra-light connectable display thedisplay capabilities are in real-time. In a further embodiment of alarge display screen in an ultra-thin and ultra-light connectabledisplay the display capabilities are document or file based. It isfurther pointed out that a display screen herein is preferably acomputer display screen, wherein an image is treated as an image ofpixels and thus can be processed by a digital processor and can bestored in a memory or a buffer for temporary storage. A wirelessconnection between a display and a computing device is disclosed in USpatent Application Publ. Ser. No. 20060061951 to Hara published on Mar.23, 2006 which is incorporated herein by reference.

In case the computing device 2200 and the display 2206 are detached andare both self contained, they both require their own power source, whichmay be a battery. A battery 2207 to power the display 2206 has beenidentified in FIG. 22. In a further embodiment, the display 2206 has aninductive receiver 2207 to power the display. Inductive power in thatcase will be provided from an external source and enables the display2206 to receive inductive power with power receiver 2207. This aspect ofinductive power has been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,741,734 toJoannopoulos et al. issued on Jun. 22, 2010 which is incorporated hereinin its entirety.

The wired connection such as the USB wired connection can be used tohave the power source of the computing device power the display. A USBconnection is preferably a real-time USB connection and not a fileoriented connection. A separate wire to a power source in anotherembodiment can also be used to power the display. It is noted that in awired connection with a USB connection the USB mini-A or mini-Bconnector can be used. The actual receptacles and plugs therein are 3.1mm and are sufficiently small to be used in a display housing that is 5mm thick. However, the housing of the USB mini receptacles are about 8.1mm thick. In accordance with an aspect of the present invention a miniUSB receptacle is modified to fit in a display housing that in oneembodiment is 7 mm thick or smaller. In accordance with an aspect of thepresent invention a mini USB receptacle is modified to fit in a displayhousing that in one embodiment is 5 mm thick or smaller. In oneembodiment the receptacle of a USB Micro may be used, if needed modifiedto fit the needs of connecting the display with the computing device andallowing the computing device to power the display. In a furtherembodiment the housing of the receptacle is part of the housing of thedisplay. The state of the art is sufficient to enable a wired connectionbetween a computing device and a display with a receptacle in thedisplay wherein the display thickness is smaller than 5 mm down to adisplay thickness of 3 mm and wherein the receptacle is part of thehousing and the actual connector is about 1 mm thick.

In one embodiment a battery is an ultra-light and ultra-thin batterymade of nanocomposite paper as disclosed in the article “Flexible energystorage devices based on nanocomposite paper” by Pushparaj et al. inProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) Aug. 21, 2007Vol. 104 no. 34 pages 13574-13577 downloaded from its website www dotpnas dot org and US Patent Publication Ser. No. 20100050779 to Pushparajet al. published Mar. 4, 2010 which are both incorporated herein byreference. A very thin battery not thicker than 1 mm is disclosed inU.S. Pat. No. 6,696,198 to Okahisa et al. issued on Feb. 24, 2004 whichis incorporated herein by reference.

In one embodiment of the present invention the computing device 2200 andthe display are combined as one apparatus. In such a configuration thecomputing device 2200 and the display 2206 are connected and combined,for instance through a separable hinge with male part 2203 with an axisand spring loaded ball connector 2209 and a female hinge part 2204 onthe display 2206 that is enabled to receive and lock the spring loadedball connector axis 2209. A user may separate the display 2206 from thedevice 2200.

The separated display in one embodiment of the present invention enablesa display to collaborate with the computing device within at least 1meter distance from the computing device of each other. In a furtherembodiment of the present invention the display can collaborate with thecomputing device in a distance not exceeding 3 meter of each other. Inyet a further embodiment of the present invention the display cancollaborate with the computing device in a distance not exceeding 10 m.In yet a further embodiment of the present invention the display cancollaborate with the computing device in a distance exceeding 10 meterof each other.

In a further embodiment of the present invention the computing devicehas at least one lens/sensor unit 2201 which allows the device to recordan image which may be a video image. In yet a further embodiment of thepresent invention the computing device 2200 is a camera phone or awireless phone with a camera. In yet a further embodiment of the presentinvention the computing device 2200 is a camera.

The detachable display has several advantages. One advantage is that onecan hold up the camera in a position for instance above one's head whereit would be almost impossible to conveniently view its display. Bydetaching the camera, one can hold up the camera above one's head andstill view the to be recorded scene on the detached display. In yet afurther embodiment of the present invention, the display 2206 has alocal control 2210 that activates the camera part of the computingdevice 2200. This also allows a person to make an image fromhimself/herself.

In a further embodiment of the present invention a computing device 2300as illustrated in FIG. 23 has at least two lens/sensor units 2301 and2302, which may be applied to generate a panoramic image or astereoscopic image, which can be a video image. The display 2206 in FIG.22 is illustrated from it's a view when it is folded open when attached.When folded closed a screen 2211 is visible. One may also modify thisembodiment, by having a screen visible when the display is folded open.

However, when taking an image without detaching the display but with thedisplay folded open, the screen is not visible by the user in oneembodiment. One may address this by using a ball type hinge that allowsthe display to be rotated so the screen becomes visible to the user. Ina further embodiment a hinge part 2112 may be provided to the displaythat allows the display to be hinged on the computing device so it facesthe user. One may also provide an additional display screen on thecomputing device that is not detachable, so that the computing devicehas a detachable display and a fixed screen.

In a further embodiment of the present invention, the detachable displayhas a screen at both of its sides, as is illustrated in FIG. 24 with ascreen 2401. In yet a further embodiment a computing device has anintegrated screen that cannot be removed and a detachable display thathas at least one screen. The detachable screen in a further embodimenthas two screens, one at each large flat side.

In general, a computing device such as a PDA, a cell phone, a smartphone, a camera and the like has its own display screen. Such a displayis generally an integrated display that is not detachable from thecomputing device. With the increased miniaturization of computingdevices there is a trend to minimize the size of a computing device andconsequently the size of the display screen that is part of that device.On the other hand, cell phones and smart phones and the like arestarting to become the main mobile device, including the main camera,for consumers. One or more aspects of the present invention allow themobile phone to become the primary computing device for a consumer.

There is a desire to view images and other data on a larger screen. Thiscreates a conflict with the desire for ultra small and ultra portabledevices. One solution to that issue is to provide a small portablecomputing device which may include at least one lens/sensor unit with avery portable thin and light weight detached display with a largedisplay screen. Such a display in accordance with an aspect of thepresent invention is separate, portable and self contained. Thecomputing device display is able to recognize the display or vice versathe display is able to at least receive and use signals from thecomputing device. In one embodiment of the present invention, signals tothe display from the computing device are provided via a wiredconnection. In a further embodiment of the present invention signalsfrom the computing device are received by the display via wirelesscommunications, for instance via radio signals such as via a Bluetoothor a wireless USB protocol, or via any other wireless communication thatallows the display screen to show images generated by the computingdevice in real-time and not merely as files.

FIG. 25 illustrates such a display and the system it may be part of. Thedisplay 2501 has a housing 2502 and at least one screen 2504. Thedisplay with all components and housing is preferably ultra-tin andlight and does not consume much energy, preferably a minimum amount ofenergy that can be provided by an inductive source that can be receivedby the display to power the screen or by an ultrathin battery that isnot thicker than 1 mm and preferably thinner than 1 mm. Preferably theinductive power receiver or ultrathin battery 2506 (and which may nothave been drawn to scale) is integrated in the housing 2502. The displayis provided with a communication device 2507 that communicates with acorresponding communication device 2508 in a portable computing device2503 that includes at least one lens/sensor unit 2509. In one embodimentthe computing device 2503 is a mobile phone or smart phone. In anotherembodiment computing device 2503 is a stand-alone camera, preferably adigital camera.

In one embodiment of the present invention a portable and mobilecomputing device such as 2503 and a portable and mobile display such asan ut/ul display 2501 even though separate form a system, wherein thecomputing device generates at least one signal that is strictlydesignated to be processed by the display and displayed by a screen ofthe display. The display is then uniquely configured and/or authorizedto correctly process such a signal to create an appropriate image. Aconfiguration or authorization can be achieved by encoding or encryptingthe signal by the computing device and only provide an authorizeddisplay with the corresponding decryption or descrambling circuitry orprogram. In a further embodiment of the present invention the signal ismodulated in a unique way, for instance by frequency or time-slothopping, which can only be demodulated in an authorized way by thedisplay or its embedded receiver. The above applies more specifically toa wireless connection between a computing device and a display. A uniqueand authorized connection can also be achieved by using a single andexclusive wired connection between the computing device and the displaywherein the computing device is only connected with the display. Theabove embodiment clearly excludes any broadcasting application forconnection to a plurality of displays.

In a further embodiment of the present invention a computing deviceconnects in real-time with a plurality of displays, which may be ut/uldisplays to provide a real-time image generated by the computing. In yeta further embodiment of the present invention such a real-time image isa panoramic image or a stereoscopic image generated in accordance withone or more aspects of the present invention.

In one embodiment of the present invention a system is provided thatcontains at least one camera, such as a device 2503 and a plurality ofdisplays 2501 which are configured and authorized to process a signalgenerated by the camera to display the image. In a further embodiment ofthe present invention each display contains a processor that is enabledto be programmed to be authorized to process the image signal generatedby the camera. In yet a further embodiment of the present invention acoding processor generates a code or a program that is applied to aprocessor in a display to become authorized to process the image signalgenerated by the camera. In yet a further embodiment of the presentinvention the image signal generated by the camera is distributed by anetwork to a display, which may be the Internet or a mobile telephonenetwork.

A stand-alone camera in this case is defined as a portable device thatis strictly limited to taking or recording images, which may be stillimages in one embodiment and video images in another embodiment of thepresent invention. A digital camera is a camera with at least onelens/image sensor combination. An example of a stand-alone digitalcamera is an DSRL (digital single lens reflex) digital camera or anyother digital camera for consumer or professional use. A stand-alonecamera is not part of any other computing device such as a smart-phoneor a mobile phone. In one embodiment of the present invention astand-alone camera has real-time communications means such as a wirelessWiFi connection or Bluetooth or real-time wired or wireless USB. Thiscommunication means in case of the stand-alone camera is mainly used toreceive instructions and or image data and to transmit status dateand/or image data. In another embodiment of the present invention thecommunication means is exclusively used to receive instructions and orimage data and to transmit status date and/or image data. In a furtherembodiment of the present invention a stand-alone camera is used to alsorecord sound related to a scene. In that case the communication means isalso used to transmit and receive instructions and data related to anaudio signal. A stand-alone camera in a further embodiment of thepresent invention has processing capabilities, for instance in imageprocessing or other tasks to generate image data that represents adesirable image that may be provided with an audio signal. It isbelieved that a stand-alone camera that is connectable to a display asdisclosed herein is novel. In a further embodiment of the presentinvention a stand-alone camera is connected to an ultra-thin,ultra-light display via a wired connection. In yet a further embodimentof the present invention the wired connection also provides power to theultra-thin, ultra-light display.

In one embodiment of the present invention a system is providedcontaining a stand-alone camera with a processor and memory and aconnection to an ut/ul display to display in real-time an image beingrecorded by a lens/sensor unit in the stand-alone camera. In a furtherembodiment the stand alone camera contains two lens/sensor units. Thestand-alone camera and the ut/ul display as provided herein are in oneembodiment connected via a wire and in a further embodiment they areconnected via a wireless connection. Despite having a wide angle lens orat least two lens/sensor units, a camera may not cover a desired fieldof view.

In one embodiment of the present invention a computing device stand 3900as illustrated in FIG. 37 is provided with a platform 3901 enabled tohold the computing device 3902 containing at least one lens/sensor unit,the computing device having at least a wired or wireless communicationdevice to communicate with a display 4000 illustrated in FIG. 38 with ascreen 4001 which may be an ut/ul display. In case of a wirelesscommunication connection the computing device 3902 has an antenna 3903and the display has an antenna 4003. The stand 3900 further has arotatable or movable platform 3905. The platform 3905 has at least oneremotely controlled actuator such as an electrical motor, which may be astepping motor or any other remotely controllable motor or actuator,which enables the platform 3901 to be rotated in a remotely controlledfashion. The actuator is either bi-directional based on a control signalallowing it to move in a direction and a reverse direction, or anactuator contains at least two actuators, one working in a direction andthe at least other one working in the reverse direction.

In one embodiment the platform itself has a receiver to receive acontrol signal for an actuator in the platform, for instance from thecomputing device or from the display. In yet a further embodiment of thepresent invention a rotating control signal is provided via computingdevice or camera 3902 to a motor or actuator controller in the platform.For instance, both the platform and the computing device as well as thedisplay are Bluetooth enabled.

In one embodiment of the present invention the platform, for instancedevice holder 4102 has a connector 4108 to make a connection with device4101 as illustrated in FIG. 39, wherein an actuator controller in theplatform receives a control signal via 4101. Thus, by applying a remotecontroller a device holder attached to a platform which in oneembodiment contains a computing device with a lens/sensor unit isinstructed from a computer display to follow an object. In oneembodiment of the present invention a computing device on a platformmoves substantially in one plane. In a further embodiment of the presentinvention a computing device on a remotely controlled platform is alsoenabled to move in a vertical plane, for instance by using a verticalactuator such as a telescoping actuator 3906, or any other actuator thatcan change the orientation of the platform.

The use of a specific connector such as 4108, in one embodiment of thepresent invention requires that a device and a device holder on theplatform having matching or corresponding features, and allows to createa platform or at least a device holder of the platform that isproprietary to a certain device.

In one embodiment of the present invention a remote controller 4002,which may be a joystick, is incorporated in the display. In a furtherembodiment of the present invention one or more sensors such asaccelerometers 4004 are attached to the display or are incorporated inthe display. Such a display with accelerometers is disclosed in U.S.Pat. No. 7,688,306 to Wehrenberg et al. issued on Mar. 30, 2010 which isincorporated herein by reference. The purpose of the sensors is todetermine a position or a change of position of the display. Based onthe detected change in position a signal which is associated with thedifference of position of the display is generated and is used tocontrol or drive a motor or an actuator in the platform. Positionalsensors and positional difference sensors are known and includeaccelerometers, magnetic sensors, MEMS with mechanical components,gyroscopes such as optical fiber gyroscopes, Hall sensors, inertialsensors, vibrational sensors and any other sensor that can be applied todetermine a positional or angular difference or angular rate change orangular velocity or a linear rate change or linear velocity change ofthe display. These sensors will be called a positional sensor herein.Many of these positional sensors are available in very small formats,for instance integrated on one or more chips, which can easily be fittedinside a display, even in an ut/ul display. A change in position orangle of the display causes the actuator in the platform to beactivated.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the actuator in the platformis activated based on the amount of change in the display from a neutralposition. To stop the actuator from being activated the display has tobe returned to its neutral position. A larger change in position by thedisplay from its neutral position can create a faster activity by theactuator. In a further embodiment of the present invention, activity ofthe actuator depends on the rate of change of the position of thedisplay. Also because the sensors are directionally sensitive and theactuator is, in a further embodiment of the present invention, a controlelement such as a button is provided on the display, which allows theactuator to respond or stop responding to a change of position of thedisplay. This allows a user to return the display to a neutral positionwithout activating the actuator.

In a further embodiment of the present invention the display has acontrol element, such as a button, to reverse the moving direction in asubstantially horizontal plane based on a movement of the display. Whena display is moved from left to right the platform also moves from leftto right. This is useful when a user of the display and the camera inthe device holder face in the same direction. By activating a control onthe display a user can reverse the direction of the platform, so thatwhen the display moves from left to right the camera, seen from thedirection a lens is facing, moves from right to left. This is usefulwhen the camera and the user are facing each other. Activating thecontrol again reverses the direction of the actuator as a result of amovement of the display.

A user confirms in a certain position a zero position which correspondswith a zero position of a computing device. By moving the display withthe positional sensors, the user can cause the movement of the platformand thus of the computing device with a camera and track an object orpan an area. In one embodiment of the present invention a fixed trackingplane for the platform can be set or programmed. In a further embodimentof the present invention the platform can be provided with a thirdmovement, for instance in a vertical plane.

The display can be one of a ut/ul display, a portable computer display,a tablet PC, a mobile phone, a smart phone, a PDA (personal digitalassistant) or any other device including a display screen, at least oneaccelerometer, and a communication device to connect to a remote cameraand a remote motor controller which is preferably a wireless connectionbut can also be a wired connection. One advantage of the aboveembodiments is that a user can track an object via a display rather thanhaving to look through a viewer. In yet a further embodiment of thepresent invention a display has a processor that is programmed toinstruct a motor controller to follow a pre-programmed track. In yet afurther embodiment a tracking path of the platform is recorded and canbe repeated by the display or the computing system.

Cameras nowadays can be very small and are used in for instance computergaming. The remotely controlled platform 4100 for a computing device forinstance including a small camera can also be small as is illustrated inFIG. 39. For instance a movable platform has a bracket or fixture 4105that can be fixed, for instance temporarily, against or on an object ora wall. Fixed on the bracket or structure is a motor or actuator holder4104 which contains the motor or actuator controller and the motor oractuator that can move an axis or arm 4103 in a first plane which can bea horizontal plane. Also contained in 4100 is a receiver to receiveactuator control instructions from the display. A camera/computingdevice holder 4102 attached to the arm is enabled to receive and tightlyhold a computing device 4101. In a further embodiment of the presentinvention a motor or actuator 4106 is attached between 4102 and 4103,enabling the holder 4102 to be rotated in a different plane for instanceperpendicular to the first plane.

In yet a further embodiment of the present invention yet anotheractuator is included in the platform that allows the holder 4102 to berotated in a plane perpendicular to the horizontal plane in which arm4103 can move and perpendicular to arm 4103. This allows in effect arotation of the field of view of the camera in computing device 4101 andallows for a remote correction of the horizon in the image taken by thecamera of 4101 if the orientation of the platform is not aligned with anorientation of an object.

FIG. 40 illustrates the platform viewed from above. The actuators in oneembodiment of the present invention are provided with electrical power.A power source, such as a battery, in one embodiment of the presentinvention is included in the platform. In a further embodiment of thepresent invention, a battery in the computing device powers theplatform, for instance via a power connection. In yet a furtherembodiment, power is provided from an external source, for instance viaa power cord. In one embodiment of the present invention a platform 4100is fixed against a wall, a structure or an object with a removableadhesive such as Scotch® Wallsaver™ Removable Mounting Square of 3MCorporation. Other attachment means such as magnets, Velcro® fasteners,pins, screws, straps, clips or any other fastening mechanism that allowsthe platform to be fixed to an object or structure are fullycontemplated. This allows a computing device with a camera to bepositioned, preferably in a removable manner on a non-intrusivelocation, for instance during a performance and allow a user to pan,track, focus and zoom on part of a scene or a performance. In oneembodiment of the present invention a stand like a portable camera standis provided. In one embodiment of the present invention a camera remotecontrol is provided, which may be incorporated in the display. A touchtype screen in the display in one embodiment of the present invention isenabled to display a camera control to control one of camera focus,camera zoom in/out, camera aperture, camera on/off and any other cameracontrol.

In one embodiment of the present invention, after a platform has beenpositioned and camera settings have been provided a confirmation signalfrom the display keeps the camera platform and/or the camera in itspreferred settings.

In one embodiment of the present invention the camera platform and thecamera in the computing device and the display collaborate to track anobject or a person in a scene. This is illustrated in FIG. 41. A screen4300 contains an image of a person 4302 recorded by the camera in thecomputing device on the platform. Preferably, a user provides anidentifier 4301, such as an ellipse, around the image on a screen of thedisplay and a processor in the computing device or the display istrained to learn characteristics of the object. This may be asegmentation learning, a statistical distribution learning, specificcharacteristics learning such as head and legs, or detection of aprovided characteristic such as a colored tape or patch on the object orany other object image learning that allows an object to be detected inan image. After analysis or learning, in an operational mode theprocessor is enable to recognize or track the object or person in ascene. The processor in one embodiment determines a tracking center 4304of the object. A user may provide a tracking box 4303 on the screenwhich determines a part of the screen wherein the object's or person'simage has to appear on the screen. For instance one may want to have theobject appear at the right side of the screen. The size of the box 4303determines the activity of the platform. If a person moves inside anarea corresponding to 4303 the platform will not move, creating arelatively stable screen image. However, when the person or object movesoutside the area corresponding to the box the platform will move. Thelocation of for instance the tracking center 4304 determines the controlsignals provided via the processor to the motor controls of theplatform. Image tracking is well known and is disclosed for instance inU.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/284,496 to Zhang et al. filed onNov. 21, 2005 which is incorporated herein by reference.

A processor in one embodiment of the present invention is provided thatis programmed to track a moving object from an image generated by alens/sensor unit on the mobile platform. Based on the location of atracking point in the image of the object a processor controls a motoror actuator in the mobile platform that allows a lens/sensor unit in adevice held on the platform to keep the object in its field of vision.

In one embodiment of the present invention the mobile platform iscompact and light. For instance a holder of the mobile platform is aboutthe size of a mobile phone, but made of light strips or a web of rigidor semi-rigid material. Combined with the motor(s), actuator(s), controland communication circuitry, arm and bracket the weight is preferablyless than 500 grams, more preferably less than 250 grams and mostpreferably less than 200 grams. The mobile platform should be mobile andportable. Its size in should be able to fit in a box of a volumepreferably less than 1000 cm3 in volume, more preferably about or lessthan 500 cm3 and most preferably with a volume of about or less than 250cm3.

Returning to FIG. 25, in yet another embodiment of the present inventionthe computing device 2503 has no lens/sensor unit and is a router or arouter like device. The display 2501 has at least one control 2505 tocontrol the display screen, including but not limited to an on/offswitch, a contrast control, a brightness control and the like. In afurther embodiment the control 2505 is a touch screen that is eitherseparate or part of screen 2504. The display 2501 also contains controllogic and memory 2512. The device 2512 may also contain a processor forprocessing image data that is to be displayed. In one embodiment device2507 receives a signal that contains image data. Device 2507, which maybe a wireless device such as Bluetooth device or a WiFi device, or witha wired connection such as a USB port, can demodulate the receivedsignal, for instance from 2508, into for instance a base-band signalthat represents a displayable image that is provided to 2512 where itmay be stored, if necessary only temporarily, to be processed and to bedisplayed on the screen 2504. In one embodiment a demodulatordemodulates the signal and an extractor extracts from the demodulatedsignal the image data. In a further embodiment the image data isarranged in a frame structure that allows the image data to be displayedon the display screen. In a further embodiment 2512 may contain a massstorage chip to store a series of images, such as consecutive videoimages.

In a further embodiment of the present invention display 2501 alsocontains a power inlet 2511 that allows it to be connected to a poweroutlet, for instance to a power outlet 2514 on device 2503 to power thedisplay screen 2501. In a further embodiment of the present inventionthe power connection between 2511 and 2514 includes a communicationconnection and may be a USB connection or a WiFi connection. This allowsthe display to be powered by 2503 while also taking care of thecommunication that otherwise would be taken care of by 2507 and 2508.

In one embodiment of the present invention the computing device 2503 isa very small device that fits easily in a clinched first of a matureperson. For instance such a device may have measurements of about 8*3*2cm³ in volume such as for instance the Samsung® SCH-U470 model mobilephone or smaller. In yet another embodiment is larger than 8*3*2 cm³ butsmaller than 10*3*3 cm³ in volume. In yet another embodiment is smallerthan 10*4*4 cm³ in volume. The device has a screen for display of about3*2 cm, or larger or smaller which is adequate for viewing information,but of course provides only a limited quality view of images. Theadvantage of such a small device or even smaller, is that it isextremely portable. Even smaller devices can be made with imaging,processing, communication, audio and storage capabilities or anycombination thereof. The advantage of such a small or even smallerdevice with at least one lens/sensor unit is that a user can hold it invirtually any position to take an image. Unfortunately, a user can onlyreview an image on the device after it has been recorded on the device.A display 2501 that shows images taken by 2509 of 2503 in real timeallows the display 2501 to be used as a real-time viewer. In oneembodiment at least one lens/sensor unit 2509 on a device 2503 recordsan image, which may be a video image, and provides the related imagedata to a communication device 2508 which transmits it to a receivingdevice 2507 of display 2501 to be processed by 2512 to be displayed inreal-time or close to real-time on screen 2504. In a further embodimentdevice 2503 has at least 2 lens/sensor units from which device 2503creates a 3D or a panoramic image which is provided for transmission on2508. The screen 2504 may be a 3D enabled screen to display 3D images.

In one embodiment of the present invention wherein a computing device isconnected to a single display wherein a screen 2504 of the connectableultrathin, ultralight display is at least 1.5 the size in area andpreferably at least 2 times the size in area of a display screen that isan integrated part of the computing device. In yet a further embodimentof the present invention the connectable ultralight ultrathin (ut/ul)display is preferably at least 5 times, more preferably at least 10times, yet more preferably at least 20 times, yet more preferably atleast 40 times and most preferably at least 100 times the size of theintegrated display of the computing device.

In one embodiment the screen 2504 works as a real-time viewer oflens/sensor unit 2509. In general a camera unit creates and stores animage. Such an image can be transferred to another device in the form ofa file, including a RAW file. However, in at least the one embodiment ofthe present invention of this paragraph, the screen 2504 shows the sameimage, which may be a video image as one would see on a viewer on thedevice. One should keep in mind that a camera viewer on the computingdevice in one embodiment is significantly smaller than the screen 2504.This may mean that screen 2504 can show an image in a higher resolutionthan the integrated viewer on the computing device. This issue can beaddressed in several ways. In one embodiment of the present inventionthe computing device recognizes the device 2501 and the display screenrequirements. This may include the type of display screen and thesignals formats required to display an image correctly on the screen2504. For instance a screen 2504 can show four times as many pixel linesthan the integrated viewer. This recognition may be achieved forinstance by an identifying code that is transmitted by device 2501during initiation of a connection and that is recognized by 2503. Device2503 may have a memory that stores different display protocols for apossible connected screen 2504. When a specific identifying code isrecognized an image processing application is activated that processesimage data generated by 2509 into the required format required by 2504.In one embodiment that processed data is transmitted as a signal to thedisplay 2501 for display on 2504. In one embodiment the signal isprovided to a driver of the screen 2504 to generate the image on thescreen. In a further embodiment additional signal processing, forinstance amplification, is required to condition the signal for thedriver. In yet a further embodiment, especially when the signal istransmitted wirelessly, the signal is a modulated signal, such as an RF(radio frequency) or infra-red signal. A wired connection may alsorequire a modulated signal. In the case of modulation the display 2501has a receiver to receive the signal, and to condition the signal fordemodulation, demodulates the signal, extracts the image data andprocesses it to be provided in the required format for the driver andprovides the image data to the driver to drive the screen to show theimage. Intermediate steps may be required to enhance a signal and toremove extraneous data that were used for correct communications,including but not limited to handshake data and data error correctiondata.

In a further embodiment the device 2503 transmits image data to 2501 ina standard format such as JPEG or RAW. In that case the device 2503 hasa processor that is programmed to transform the image data from itsstandard format to the format required by a screen 2504 and its relateddriver. While this is a possible embodiment of the present invention itis a less preferred embodiment with a small and low power processor onthe device 2501 that can achieve this. It is preferred to have mostpower intensive processing being done by the device 2503 and limit powerintensive processing on device 2501.

In a further embodiment of the present invention, the device 2503 storesat least one image or a video image. The device 2503 is enabled to playfor review stored images. In a further embodiment the device 2503provides stored images for review on 2508 to be transmitted to 2507 tobe reviewed on 2504.

In one embodiment of the present invention the display is a selfcontained and portable display that works with a computing device thatincludes a camera with at least one sensor/lens unit. Users alreadycarry many devices, which may include a cellphone, a laptop, an MP3player, a digital camera and the like. To carry an additional device,such as a display 2501 requires the display to provide desirableadvantages while avoiding substantial disadvantages. It is believed thatan embodiment of a connectable display with a sturdy and rigid housingthat has a very thin thickness with a large screen and a low weightoffers a substantial advantage that is currently not available and hasalso not been articulated as such. It is believed that an embodiment ofa connectable display that has a very thin thickness with a large screenand very low weight is a substantial advantage. It is believed that anembodiment of the present invention that provides a separate camera witha smaller display screen and a separate connectable display with a largedisplay screen offers a substantial advantage. Furthermore, the abilityto view large format images is believed to be a very substantialadvantage, for people with normal vision and for people with impairedvision alike. Furthermore, the ability to view large format imagesgenerated in real-time by a camera on a separate display screen isbelieved to be a substantial advantage. Furthermore an embodiment of thepresent invention enabled to show images in full color is believed to bean advantage. Furthermore, an embodiment of the present invention toshow video or video-like images in real time on the display screen isbelieved to be an advantage.

One disadvantage of a display is its weight and bulk if notappropriately dimensioned. This is currently demonstrated by availableeReaders and tablet like computers such as the Apple iPAD®. First of allthese devices do not have the advantages or aspects of the presentinvention. Secondly, they have bulky batteries. Even an advanced eReadersuch as the announced QUE proReader™ by Plastic Logic Ltd. of Cambridge,UK has some disadvantages as is disclosed on the fact sheet as releasedby Plastic Logic which is incorporated herein by reference. It displaysstill images, in grey shade colors, and has a thickness over 7 mm, witha weight over a pound. Seiko Epson reported an eReader in a 18 cm by 12cm housing of 3 mm thick of 57 gram in 2007 at Embedded Technology 2007,an exhibition event in the Pacifico Yokohama convention center. Thedevice has a USB port. However the device displays grey color and notvideo enabled images as was reportedly has a refresh of 0.8 sec. It wasalso not disclosed how data exchange was used. It appears that itsupports document type transfer.

While being portable, current devices that are on the market or thathave been announced appear not to meet the requirements of beingultrathin, light and having a large display screen. A display screenthat meets the requirements as an aspect of the current invention wouldbe like a magazine or a paper notepad for instance of A4 format orlarger. Such a notepad is extremely portable of light weight and onlynoticeable by its size, not by its weight or bulk and is verytransportable without being intrusive.

In one embodiment of the present invention the computing device connectsdirectly with the display. This means that the computing devicegenerates and transmits a signal that is received and processed by thedisplay. No intermediate signal processing between the two apparatusesis required in case of wireless transmission. In a wired transmissiononly a single wire between the computing device and the display is usedfor a direct connection. In a further embodiment of the presentinvention a direct connection is autonomous and no other devices thanthe computing device and the display in a wireless connection arerequired. In a direct autonomous wired connection only the computingdevice, the display and the wire are required. The wire may containcircuitry, such as amplification circuitry. However, the wire is alsoportable and mobile, so that the computing device is enabled to beconnected to the display with the wire without any further supportinginfrastructure.

One question arises: why would someone carry yet another device? It isbelieved that one will be enticed to do so with a display that offersthe advantages of aspects of the invention. It is believed that thedisplay will be an attractive must-have device that is currently notavailable if it meets functional aspects of the present invention aswell as one or more dimensional and weight requirements. It appears thatthe upper limit of weight for an external display to be carried along isabout 1 pound, with a screen size of at least 10 by 15 cm, preferably 15by 23 cm and more preferably 8 by 11 inches and yet more preferablygreater than 8 by 11 inches. The upper weight limit for all thepreferred screen sizes is about 1 pound, more preferably 12 ounces andeven more preferably 8 ounces or less. Even more preferable is a weightof 6 ounces.

For an external display a weight of 16 ounces or less is preferable, aweight of 12 ounces or less is more preferable and a weight of 6-8ounces is most preferable. A weight substantially less than 6-8 ouncesand certainly less than 6 ounces is also preferable. A low weight ispreferable for a portable display but a very light weight displayweighing less than 6 ounces appears to lose a sense of substance. As aportable display with a minimum screen size of substantially or close to10 by 15 cm appears to be a minimum requirement to carry an extradevice. An even smaller size, such as a half postcard sized displayscreen size of about 7 cm by 4.5 cm is desirable and even morepreferable if it is thinner than 5 mm and light, for instance 12 ouncesor lighter or even more preferable 8 ounces or lighter. A larger sizewith low weight is also preferable. A minimum screen size ofsubstantially or about 20 cm by 15 cm for a portable display is morepreferable, while a screen size of a notebook or writing pad size(standard 8 by 11.5 inches or A4 in Europe) appears to be verypreferable. Larger sizes at low weight are also preferred but less sofor a portable display as it starts to become too large for beingcarried in carry-on luggage. A large screen as an aspect of the presentinvention is fully color enabled. In a further embodiment of the presentinvention it is also video enabled with a display rate of at least 12fps.

Sizes as provided herein, are sizes equivalent to an area that isdefined by an area of a rectangle with one side L and one side W. Thearea is then L*W. So if a size is preferably larger than 15 cm by 10 cmthen it means that a size is preferably larger than 150 cm². In oneembodiment one may prefer a rectangular shape. In another embodiment onemay prefer a square shape. In yet another shape one may prefer anellipsoid shape.

Furthermore, it is a requirement to provide in one embodiment a portableand connectable display that is not bulky. It appears that a displaywith a thickness greater than 1 cm is not very desirable. In a firstembodiment of the present invention a display has a thickness of 1 cm orless. More preferable is a display that has a thickness of 7.5 mm orless. Even more preferable is a display that has a thickness of 7 mm orless. Even more preferable is a display that has a thickness of 6 mm orless. Even more preferable is a display that has a thickness of 5 mm orless. Even more preferable is a display that has a thickness that is 4mm or less. Even more preferable is a display that has a thickness of 3mm or less. A thickness of 2 mm or less is also preferred. However,there is a requirement also of rigidity and sturdiness. A thickness of 2mm or less is only preferred if the housing and the whole displaymaintains a feel of sturdiness and stiffness and rigidity. There is alsoa matter of cost to create the display to be considered.

Computing devices with display screens of course exist. These computingdevices have their display screen integrated into one body. As anembodiment of the present invention a display is a separate butconnectable ultra thin/ultra-light display (UT/UL or ut/ul display). Aut/ul display is a portable external accessory to a computing device,like earphones. Current devices and displays are not ut/ul displays.First of all the displays are not separate from the computing devices.The Apple iPAD® for instance has a size of 242 by 189 by 13.4 mm with aweight of about 700 grams and clearly does not meet the requirements ofa ut/ul display. The Apple iPOD® for instance has a size of about 110 by62 by 8.5 mm with a weight of about 115 grams, wherein the actual screenis substantially smaller than the size of the device, and also does notmeet at least the thickness requirements of an ut/ul display.

By using materials, including housing materials, screen material and thelike, in one embodiment with an average density of 1500 kg/m3 one canachieve an ut/ul display with a housing size of 30 cm by 25 cm with adisplay screen of 25 cm by 20 cm of with a weight of 113 grams per 1 mmthickness. A thickness of at most 4.5 mm in a box shape display, willstill meet the requirements of an ut/ul display. This assumes a solidhousing, which is not likely. More likely the housing has walls of 1 mmthick, preferably 0.5 mm thick, for instance of a fiber reinforcedcomposite material. Furthermore, one may fill at least part of a housingformed by thin shells of about 1 mm thick or less with a foam such as astructural foam. One may for instance fill half shells with a foam thathas a density significantly lower than 1500 kg/m3, remove or laserablate the foam for the shapes of the components such as connectors,antennas, screens, circuits and the like, assemble the components intothe shells and glue or fix the shells together. This enables a displaywith an average density of 900 kg/m3 and more likely an average evenlower than 900 kg/m3 at a large size. This enables a display of 300 mmby 250 mm by 5 mm with a screen of 25 cm by 20 cm to have a weight lessthan 12 ounces.

Part of the display is being formed by the screen and screen backplane,the housing of the display and the battery or power source (if used).The screen itself can be thin if an OLED or an electrophoretic displayscreen are used. The thickness of ePaper or eInk display screens withbackplane has been reported to be in a range of 250 micron to 850micron. Accordingly, display screens of large areas complying with therequirements herein are available with a thickness of about 500 micron(or micro-meter). Full color and video imaging is enabled by anelectrophoretic screen using electrowetting. This is disclosed in forinstance US Patent Publication Ser. No. 20100128015 to Feenstra et al.published on May 27, 2010, which is incorporated herein by reference inits entirety. Such screens have been demonstrated by Liquavista ofEindhoven in the Netherlands.

The body of the display should be strong but also ultra thin. One way toachieve this is to use high-strength and high stiffness polymers. Forinstance one may use a polycarbonate material such as disclosed in U.S.Pat. No. 6,043,310 to Liu et al. issued on Mar. 28, 2000 which isincorporated herein by reference. One may use a housing with a maximumthickness of 5 mm or less. In one embodiment one may use a housing witha maximum thickness of about 3 mm or less. In yet a further embodimentone may use a housing of a maximum thickness of about 2 mm or less. Inone embodiment one may use high strength polymer composite materialsthat have been reinforced by fiber materials. These composite materialsare well known. In one embodiment carbon fiber reinforced composites areused. For instance in one embodiment a carbon reinforced polyimide resinis used to form a thin but strong housing. In another embodiment thehousing is made of carbon nanotubes reinforced composites. Accordingly,a stiff housing for a display can be made with a thickness of less than2 mm thick; of less than 3 mm thick; of less than 4 mm thick; and ofless than 5 mm thick.

A review of documents does not reveal anyone disclosing or pursuinglimitations as described herein. It appears that a thickness of adisplay with a large display with housing of about 1 cm is pursued, withsome finding a thickness over 7 mm ultrathin. Seiko showed a non-videoenabled non-color ultra-thin device that is ultra-light but that issmaller than 25 cm by 20 cm. A weight of over 1 pound appears consideredto be acceptable. These embodiments are embodiments of eReaders andcomputing tablets and not of ultrathin, ultralight and large connectabledisplays as described and enabled herein.

There are many developments in display screen technology of ultra-light,ultra-thin and even flexible black/white, grey scale and/or color imagedisplay screen capabilities. In one embodiment these display screenshave a refresh rate of about 1 sec down to 0.1 sec per frame to fullvideo capabilities of 30 or more frames per second. One of ordinaryskill will be familiar with these technologies. Some are stillexpensive, but are fully enabled to implement the screens of a displayrequired as an aspect of the present invention. Two familiar displayscreen technologies are the OLED technology and electrophoretic displayscreen technology also known as electronic paper. In general such ascreen is an electro-optic display screen. It may contain a materialwith for instance active elements or with MicroencapsulatedElectrophoretic Capsules. A field across the display screen activatesthe display screen elements in one embodiment. Such a display screen isdisclosed in for instance US Patent Publication 20070247697 to Sohn etal published on Oct. 25, 2007 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,672,040 to Sohn et alissued on Mar. 2, 2010 which are both incorporated herein in theirentirety.

In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention thesupporting electronic devices for communication, power management andscreen display management are embedded in electronic integratedcircuits. These integrated circuits are embedded in the plastic housingof the ut/ul display and provided with the required connections. How toembed integrated circuits into the plastic housing is known and is forinstance disclosed in the article “Embedding of thinned chips in plasticsubstrates” by Vandecasteele et al. of IMEC-TFCG Microsystems inZwijnaarde, Belgium as downloaded from the Internet and which isincorporated herein by reference. One may create a stiff and very thinhousing of a double shell of for instance a total thickness of 3 mm anda shell wall thickness of 1 mm or less in a first embodiment and with ashell wall thickness of 0.5 mm or less in a second embodiment. In afurther embodiment the total shell thickness is about 2 mm or less. Ifopen room exists between the shell walls the shell can be filled withultra light structural foam which provides additional strength whilekeeping the total weight low. The components such as chips andconnectors can be fixed in or to the shell or the foam in differentways. In one embodiment foam or shell are partially ablated for instanceby a laser such as a pulsed laser to create a shape in the shell or thefoam that will receive the relevant components, which can then be placedand fixed into place, for instance by a glue bonding.

FIG. 26 illustrates one embodiment of an ut/ul display 2600 both infront view 2600 a and a cross sectional side view 2600 b. The displayhas a body or housing 2601 with a thin screen 2602 as was discussedabove. Also included in an embodiment is an at least one control element2606 which may be an on/off switch. In a further embodiment the ut/uldisplay has a connector 2603 for connecting an external power source. Inthe cross sectional view also at least one embedded IC or chip 2607 isshown. Chip 2607 is a further embodiment is representative for at leasta power control chip, a display control chip (including a driver), andany other ICs that are required to enable the display. A device 2605which is included in the housing in an embodiment represents acommunication device, including an antenna in a further embodiment, toreceive and process signals from a computing device that transmitssignals representing an image. These signals are processed into furthersignals that can be processed by 2607 to be provided to 2602 for displayof an image, which can be a video image. In a further embodiment, imagesignals may be provided through a wired connection. Device 2605 in suchan embodiment can be configured to connect to a wire to receive therequired signal. A wire may be an electrical wire or an optical wiresuch as an optical fiber. In a further embodiment it is preferred to useonly one wired connection. In that case 2603 is for instance a USB portenabled to transmit power as well as signals such as an image signal.

In general a battery causes much of the bulk and weight of a computingdevice. Preferably, screen 2602 is a low power consumption screen as isknown in the art. In that case an ultrathin battery 2604 which has athickness of 1 mm or less and preferably of 0.5 mm is applied. Very thinLi batteries using Lithium Phosphorus Oxynitride (LiPON) as electrolytein a FET configuration are known. Ultra-thin batteries are disclosed inU.S. Pat. No. 7,389,580 to Jenson et al. issued on Jun. 28, 2008 whichis incorporated herein by reference. In a further embodiment, power isprovided by inductive transmission as discussed above and 2604represents such an inductive power receiver.

The housing serves to hold the screen and all the supporting electronicsand provide stiffness to the display. It also serves to provide a userwith the ability to hold the display at the edges. In a furtherembodiment of the ut/ul display the edges of the housing are tapered asshown in FIG. 27 by 2701. This provides a user with a sense of thinnessand saves in weight.

In one embodiment a portable display is provided that has a screen thatis larger than a screen of the computing device it is connected to. Inone embodiment the display has a thickness that is not greater than 5mm. In a further embodiment it has a thickness that is not greater than7 mm. In yet a further embodiment it has a thickness that is not greaterthan 1 cm. In yet a further embodiment it has a weight that is less than12 ounces. Because the thickness and weight are not as restricted as inthe above disclosed embodiments, one may use cheaper technologyincluding batteries and connections and display screens and the like. Itis currently possible to create very small and compact computing deviceswith camera capabilities, and with integrated storage, processing,rechargeable power and communication capabilities. Such devices can befitted with a small display screen to provide minimal status informationand with limited input controls. These devices can easily be about orsmaller than 6 by 3 by 2 cm. However, in such a small size the use as asmart phone or computer is limited. Especially some form of convenientinput and display device are missing. However, integrating a smallcomputing device with a convenient keyboard and display screen willnullify its small footprint. In accordance with an aspect of the presentinvention a portable and connectable display is provided that has ascreen size that is at least larger than the integrated display screenon the computing device. In a further embodiment a screen of such adisplay device is provided with touch screen capabilities, allowing itto be operated as an input device to a separate computing device.

The computing device is enabled to work independently from an externaldisplay. It has its own input controls and a display screen. Inaccordance with an aspect of the present invention an external portabledisplay is provided that can be connected to the computing device. In afurther embodiment, the display has a screen that is at least partiallyor in its entirety a touch screen. The display is connectable to thecomputing device either wirelessly, for instance by using a Bluetooth,WiFi or other wireless communication connection. In such a case theconnectable display should be provided with its own power source, whichmay be a battery. In a further embodiment of the present invention, thedisplay is connectable with the computing device by wire, for instancewith a USB connection. In that case the display may have its own powersource or it may be powered by a power source that is provided to thecomputing device. In one embodiment a connection is a real-timeconnection. This means that the display screen displays an interface, animage or a document as generated or as being processed by the computingdevice and not as a completed and stored document. Potential delays orinterruption in transmission of data between computing device anddisplay can be addressed by applying a buffer at the display in oneembodiment of the present invention and at the computing device inanother embodiment of the present invention and in both the computingdevice and the display in yet another embodiment of the presentinvention. This allows to temporarily store data that is to be displayedbut has not been done so.

For instance the display may receive data from the computing device tobe displayed on the screen, but the data does not establish a completeframe. A communication protocol, such as a handshake protocol, mayinform the device that data is missing. The missing data will remain ina buffer on the computing device until the display confirms receipt ofthe data. One may also apply a buffer on the display that receives dataat a slightly higher rate than is being processed. The display informsthe computing device when the buffer is almost full, allowing thedisplay to create a “buffer” of data for a maximum time of interruption.Data buffering techniques between a transmitting device and a receivingdevice are well known in the art.

The size of the screen of the connectable ut/ul display is at leastlarger in area than the screen of the computing device. Preferably theut/ul screen is larger in area than 7 cm by 5 cm; more preferably theut/ul screen is larger in area than 10 cm by 7 cm; even more preferablythe ut/ul screen is larger in area than 15 cm by 10 cm; even morepreferable the ut/ul screen in area is larger than 25 cm by 19 cm; evenmore preferable the ut/ul screen in area is larger than 30 cm by 20 cm;even more preferable the ut/ul screen in area is larger than 30 cm by 25cm.

It should be clear that the use of a large ut/ul screen completelychanges a mode in which a computing device can be operated. More dataand portion of images and text or documents can be shown in a usable waythan on a small integrated screen of a small computing device asprovided above. In a preferred embodiment most of the data processing,storage and imaging and phone like circuitry and devices are located onthe small footprint (8 cm by 3 cm by 2 cm in size or volume or smaller)or even smaller footprint (6 cm by 2 cm by 1.5 cm or smaller in volumeor size) computing device. Such a device is portable and usable as aphone which may be wireless, MP3 player, camera (video, and/or panoramicand/or 3D), video viewer, data viewer, audio and video recorder datastorage, data recorder and in any other form for which a computingdevice is and can be configured. Without an external display, viewing ofdata, documents and images is not as convenient or useful as with alarge display screen. Furthermore, computer applications such as wordprocessing, spreadsheets, presentations, image processing and the likecan be stored on a small footprint device and can be processed by aprocessor on the device but cannot be viewed and/or displayedadequately. The use of certain computer applications is very muchenabled when an external ut/ul display is connected.

One apparent advantage of using an ut/ul display together with aseparate computing device with a lens/sensor unit is the ability to viewan image during recording without requiring to view a scene through theimage viewer on the computing device.

In one embodiment of the present invention the weight of the computingdevice is also limited. A large integrated screen in the computingdevice will add to the weight. So will a large battery. In a preferredembodiment of the present invention the computing device has a weightthat does not exceed 250 grams. In a more preferred embodiment of thepresent invention the computing device has a weight that does not exceed200 grams. In yet a more preferred embodiment of the present inventionthe computing device has a weight that does not exceed 150 grams. In yeta more preferred embodiment of the present invention the computingdevice has a weight that does not exceed 100 grams. In one embodiment ofthe present invention the weight of the computing device is diminishedby applying a thin battery, not exceeding 5 mm in thickness. In oneembodiment of the present invention the weight of the computing deviceis diminished by applying a thin battery, not exceeding 3 mm inthickness.

In one embodiment, a computing device recognizes when an externaldisplay is connected to it. Such a computing device may for instance usea simple, menu driven interface to a user on its own integrated screen.It is known that a computing device can be under control of an operatingsystem. Such an operating system in one embodiment of the presentinvention is operational on a processor in a small footprint computingdevice. The operating system is programmed to recognize the connectionof an external display device. Such recognition capability is forinstance known for USB devices. When an external ut/ul display isrecognized the operating system through the processor generates agraphical user interface (GUI) for the external display screen, whilethe integrated display screen on the computing device maintains its owninterface. The GUI on the external display screen may be controlled by acontrol on the computing device. The external ut/ul display may alsohave its own user control, which may be a touch screen whichcommunicates through the connection with the processor on the computingdevice.

In one embodiment the external ut/ul display device depends for most ofits processing capabilities and storage capabilities on the computingdevice. The external display in such an embodiment has capabilities tocommunicate with the computing device. It may have some processing powerto generate appropriate graphics, images and characters. This mayinclude screen drivers, and some control circuitry, power circuitry andsome local memory to hold and perhaps recall images or GUI interfaces aswell as communication circuitry to communicate with the computingdevice. However, all actual processing and generation of data, imagesand the like takes place on the small footprint computing device. Thismeans that only a minimum of circuitry and supporting connectivity,storage and power circuitry is located on the external ut/ul display andlimits its thickness and weight. In a further embodiment, one mayinclude additional processing circuitry and memory on the external ut/uldisplay, allowing to process some data for display and cache data forfuture use. One may also include processing capabilities to locallygenerate and hold a GUI on the external display. This means that forinstance an external display may be disconnected from the computingdevice without losing the data or screen information that is beingdisplayed.

The computing device in one embodiment of the present invention haswireless phone and other capabilities such as camera capabilities and/ordocument processing capabilities. In one embodiment of the presentinvention the wireless phone capabilities can be independently switchedon and/or off without switching on/off the other capabilities.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the screen is of aconnectable ut/ul display is a screen with touch screen capabilities.This allows the screen to support full video in color while also havingtouch screen capabilities. Such a light weight display with touch screencapability has been disclosed in US Patent Application 20100171708 toChuang published on Jul. 8, 2010 which is incorporated herein byreference. It is to be understood that an embodiment of a ut/ul displaythat uses touch screen technology and/or a control that communicateswith a processor on the computing device is enabled to receive andprocess signals from the computing device and to send signals to thecomputing device.

FIG. 28 is a diagram of an embodiment of the present invention. It showsa portable and connectable display 2804 with a screen 2805. The display2804 has a connecting device 2803 which allows the display 2804 to beconnected with a connecting device 2802 of a computing device 2801 whichpreferably is a small footprint computing device. The computing device2801 in one embodiment has at least one lens/sensor unit 2807. In afurther embodiment computing device 2801 in one embodiment has at leasttwo lens/sensor units for creating panoramic and/or 3D images asdisclosed herein. In one embodiment these panoramic and/or 3D images arecreated by a processor on 2801 and are transmitted to portable display2804 to be displayed on screen 2805. In a further embodiment theconstituting images are being generated by the at least two lens/sensorunits on 2801 and are provided with control data that allows a processoron 2804 to combine the images to form a panoramic and/or 3D image byapplying the control data and to display the panoramic and/or 3D imageon screen 2805. The portable display 2804 has a control 2806 which maybe an on/off switch or one or more controls to control screenfunctionalities such as brightness, contrast and the like, and which mayalso contain a mouse or pointer like control to control for instance acursor or pointer type graphic on the screen 2805.

In a further embodiment the computing device has at least 2 lens/sensorunits of which one, which is 2807 is shown facing the viewer of the FIG.28 and at least one facing the opposite site. This allows the device2801 to record images in the direction of a user and an image in theviewing direction of the user. In a further embodiment a lens/sensorunit in the above embodiment is at least a plurality of lens/sensorunits that allows to creating panoramic and/or 3D images in eachdirection.

FIG. 29 shows a diagram of one embodiment wherein the computing device2801 has a slot 2901 which contains connecting device 2902 which canreceive and clamp to an edge of 2804 over the connecting device 2803 tocreate a single device consisting of 2801 and 2802. The computing device2801 with slot 2901 is shown in side view in FIG. 29. A lens oflens/sensor unit 2807 is shown in the side view. A lens 2903 in anopposing direction is also shown. It is to be understood that in oneembodiment of the present invention that either 2807 or 2903 or both2807 and 2903 are a plurality of lens/sensor units.

FIG. 29 also shows a diagram of the combined devices 2801 and 2804. Thisallows 2900 to act as a complete portable computer. However 2900 caneasily be separated again in 2801 and 2804 as separate devices. Combineddevice can act as a camera that applies screen 2805 as a direct viewerof either lens/sensor unit 2807 or 2903. In a further embodimentcombined device 2900 records and shows images taken both by 2807 and2903 at the same time on 2805. This may be done by displaying eachrespective image in a separate window on 2805. One may also show atleast one image which may be a video image received by the phone devicein device 2801 from a network, which may be the Internet on 2805. Onemay also receive a plurality of different images at the same timethrough the phone device. One may open separate windows for eachreceived image and display the images which may be video images on thescreen. One may also transmit an image taken by device 2801 through thenetwork to recipients. In a further embodiment at least one window onthe screen may be a window related to an application that is beingprocessed by a processor on 2801. This window may also be transmittedthrough the phone device on 2801 over the network which may be theinternet to one or more recipients. Accordingly, 2900 can be used as aportable teleconferencing device. It is to be understood that thefunctionality of 2900 can also be performed by 2804 and 2801 when notcombined but in communication through connecting devices 2802 and 2803.

It is also to be understood that while 2801 in FIG. 29 is shown beingclamped on 2804 on the left edge that other configurations are possible,including the computing device being clamped on the right edge, on thetop edge, one the bottom edge and on the back side of the display 2804.

FIG. 30 shows in side view diagram one embodiment of a computing device3001 that can be clamped onto a connectable display 3004 able to connectwith computing device 3001. Computing device 3001 has, as was disclosedabove, a slot 2901 which can receive the side of the display 3004. Inone embodiment of the present invention, computing device 3001 has aconnector 2902 which was also disclosed above and display 3004 has aconnector 3005. Connectors 2902 and 3005 in one embodiment are matchingmale/female connectors that can be connected in a unique way. In afurther embodiment of the present invention 2901 and 3005 are matchingUSB connectors. This allows the computing device 3001 to power thedisplay 3004. In one embodiment the power to a display is exclusivelyprovided externally and the display does not have a battery. The slot2901 may be equipped with springs 3003 which further secure the displayin the slot. Other means to secure the display in a slot, includingalignment slots are fully contemplated. Side clamping with a slot hasbeen provided as an illustrated example. Other means for connecting andfixating a computing device 3001 to a display 3004 are fullycontemplated. For instance the display may receive the body of thecomputing device on the blind side. In another illustrative example thecomputing device may have a hook shaped connector that hooks over andedge of the display housing, with a connector inside the hook shape ofthe computing device and a connector on the edge of the display. In afurther embodiment of the present invention 3001 and 3004 exchange datavia a wireless connection.

The computing device and the connectible ut/ul display are two differentdevices that can be connected and/or combined. One way to notexclusively describe a combination of a computing device and a displayis by size of their screens, wherein the screen of the display is largerthan of the device it connects to. Another way to not exclusivelydescribe an aspect of the invention is that no dimension in size of thecomputing device matches or is equal or substantially equal to thedimensions of the display with the condition that the screen of thedisplay is larger than the screen of the computing device. The computingdevice housing has a length Lc (its longest dimension) a width Wc (itswidth) and a thickness Tc wherein all dimensions refer to the housings.These can be referred to as (Lc,Wc,Tc). A display, in a similar way, hashousing dimensions (Ld, Wd, Td). In a first embodiment none of thecorresponding dimensions (Lc,Wc,Tc) and (Ld, Wd, Td) are equal (Lc≠Ld)etc. In a further embodiment none of the dimensions (Lc,Wc,Tc) are equalto any of the dimensions (Ld, Wd, Td). In a further embodiment Lc<Ld andWc<Wd. In a further embodiment Tc>Td.

In a further embodiment the display can connect preferably wirelesslywith any computing device, including communication type devices such asrouters to receive a signal with image data to be displayed, that isauthorized. Such an authorization may be established by an authorizationcode or a way of coding or modulation as is known to one of ordinaryskill in the art that allows an apparatus to be identified to beauthorized. In a further embodiment, the display is enabled to send aprobing signal wirelessly that can be recognized by a computing device.The computing device is programmed to recognize a specific signal,associate the specific signal with a specific authorization andtransmits data, including image data to the display in response to arecognized probing signal. In a further embodiment the process startswith a computing device sending a signal that can be received andinterpreted by the display. This signal tells the display that acomputing device is present and ready to receive a probing signal fromthe display. This allows a display to be traced by a computing devicewhen it is being moved and keep providing the display with appropriatedata, which may include image data.

In a further embodiment a plurality of displays are static in locationand placed in different positions and a first computing device ismobile, with a moving user for instance. A user may for instance bewatching a video program that is stored on a second computing device ona first display and that is provided over a network to the firstdisplay. Relevant data about the video program is provided and stored onthe first computing device. The user may move to a different locationwith a second display. The first computing device in communication withthe second display communicates the presence of the user and providesthe second display with the required data for the second display to showthe program that was being watched on the first display with the correcttiming and status data. This allows a user to move around a house andfollow a video program continuously on different displays at differentlocations.

One may also apply a similar approach to computer applications. That is:a user may be working on one computer application at one display. Allstatus information may be stored on a mobile first computing device thatmoves with the user or on a second computing device which is a serverconnected to a network. A status may be assigned a code which is storedon the first mobile computing device. The user, when moving to adifferent location with another display brings the first computingdevice. The first computing device interacts via the network with thesecond computing device and interprets the code associated with thestatus that is provided by the first computing device. When theapplication is processed from the server or second computing device itnow automatically displays the correct interface associated with thestatus of the application. If the application is processed from thefirst computing device the second display starts displaying the correctinterface based on the last status of the application.

In one embodiment the large connectable ultra-thin display is providedwith a lens/sensor unit. In one embodiment the display has a thicknessof 7 mm or less and has a weight of less than 16 ounces, preferably aweight of 12 ounces or less and a size of about 25 cm by 20 cm orlarger. The lens/sensor unit can be a lens/sensor unit as disclosed byfor instance Aptina Imaging of San Jose, Calif. in a wafer level cameraform and with a claimed thickness of 2.5 mm. Another company offering asimilar wafer level camera called NemoCAM-02AVG is Nemotek of Morroco.Its website describes the unit having a thickness of 2.6 mm. Thedatasheet of the NemoCAM-02AVG is incorporated herein by reference. Awafer level camera is also taught in US Patent Appl. Publ. Ser. No.20090309177 to Jeung et al. published on Dec. 17, 2009 which isincorporated herein by reference. By using reflow soldering it isclaimed by manufacturers that the wafer level camera can be soldered toa flexible PCB. This may add about 0.5 mm at least to the thickness ofthe camera. It is believed that the Nemotek camera module can beinstalled in a display that is 7 mm thick, as a housing can be createdthat has about 5-6 mm space if an ultrathin housing is created, forinstance made from a high strength nanocarbon fiber reinforced shell.The shell can be reinforced with a structural foam.

It seems that an ultrathin display of about 5 mm thick or less may havetrouble accommodating the wafer level camera module. This can bealleviated by forming a hole in the shell that receives the upper partof the wafer level camera. It appears from the literature anddisclosures that are available at the time this aspect of the inventionwas made that no device having a thickness of 5 mm or less has beencontemplated to incorporate a camera that is embedded completely insidethe housing that is not thicker than 5 mm. Clearly, one can incorporatea larger camera, if it is allowed to stick out of the housing. In oneembodiment of the present invention a ut/ul display having a thicknessor less means that its greatest thickness at any location is not greaterthan ‘d’. In such an embodiment if its general thickness is ‘a’ and apart sticks out by an amount of ‘b’, then the thickness is determined tobe ‘a’+‘b’. So, with a thickness of 5 mm or less in such an embodimentthe camera module has to fit within a housing that has not greaterthickness than 5 mm anywhere.

In accordance with one aspect of the present invention one may providesuch a wafer level camera module with a much smaller backplane ratherthan a Ball Grid Array (BGA). This is shown in FIG. 34 wherein a module3401 is attached to a BGA connector 3402 in a unit 3400. This connectorstill has to be soldered to a PCB, all adding to the thickness. In oneembodiment of the present invention all connections, including power areprovided through a thin backplane 3403 of about 0.5 mm thick in a firstembodiment, but not thicker than 1 mm in a second embodiment. Thebackplane 3403 may have a BGA connector 3406 or any slim connectorfacing to the top of the camera module. Assuming that the thickness ofthe shell of the housing of the display is about 0.5 mm the connector3407 can be about 2 mm thick without interfering with the shell. In oneembodiment one applies wireless chip-to-chip communication between thesensor of the camera module and a connector chip 3407. Wirelesschip-to-chip communication is enabled in for instance US PatentApplication Publ. Ser. No. 20090175323 to Chung published on Jul. 9,2009 and in the article RF/Wireless Interconnect for Inter- andIntra-Chip Communications by Mau-Chung Frank Chang et al. Proceedings ofthe IEEE, Vol. 89, no. 4, April 2001 pages 456-466 which are bothincorporated herein by reference. This requires that the sensor chip ofmodule 3401 is expanded with the communication part, which increases thesize of the die. However, in this case the area of the chip is not ascritical as the thickness of the chip or the backplane. By using thewireless connection, the backplane can be drastically reduced in size.The module 3401 can be provided with power through a very thin powerrail 3403. The receiver chip is located in 3407. While the same diagramof FIG. 34 is applied it is noted that specific components in thisembodiment have a different function from the earlier providedembodiment in diagram of FIG. 34.

In a further embodiment of the present invention, if space allows itthin flanges 3408 and 3409 are attached to the housing of the cameramodule. This allows a precise fitting of the module 3401 against thesurface of the housing. Preferably the flanges are 0.5 mm or less thick.FIG. 35 shows in diagram how the camera unit 3405 in one embodiment isfitted against the underside of the surface 3502 of the shell of thehousing of the display. FIG. 35 shows a diagram both in cross-sectionalview and in top view.

FIG. 31 shows in diagram one embodiment of a display body 3100 with ascreen 3105 and a control 3106 and at least one lens/sensor unit 3101and a connector 3103 to connect the display to the outside world. It isto be understood that related and required circuitry and connections asis known to one of ordinary skill are included in the body. In a furtherembodiment at least one lens/sensor unit 3201 in a display body 3200 isfitted into the body at the side of the display at the other side of thescreen. A control 3107 may be included on that side. In a furtherembodiment of the present invention the display includes at least onelens/sensor unit 3101 at one side and at least one lens/sensor unit 3201on the other side of the body of the ut/ul display. In a furtherembodiment of the present invention the ut/ul display includes at leasttwo lens/sensor unit 3101 at one side and/or at least two lens/sensorunits 3201 on the other side of the body of the ut/ul display. In afurther embodiment of the present invention both at least onelens/sensor units are operated at the same time to create an image whichmay be a video image. It should be clear that if a body of the displayhas a thickness of about 5 mm or less then lens/sensor units 3101 and3201 are positioned not opposite each other in the body as there is notenough room for that. FIG. 33 shows a diagram of an embodiment whereinone side of the display 3300 has at least two lens/sensor units 3301 and3302 which may be enabled to create a panoramic and/or 3D image. Theopposite side of the body may also have at least two lens/sensor units.Both at least two lens/sensor units in a further embodiment may beoperated at the same time.

One can accommodate a lens/sensor unit of a thickness, complete withconnectors of about 3 mm in a display with a thickness of 3 mm if partof the camera is allowed to stick out of the housing. This isillustrated in FIG. 36. A wafer level camera 3605 is fixed with its lensbarrel through the wall 3603 and fit tightly with its backplane againstthe inside of the wall. Protective material 3603 to protect the barrelmay be applied.

It is to be understood that an ut/ul display as provided herein, be it adetached, attached or detachable display displays images as generated bythe computing device in real-time or close to real-time, with a delaythat is in general not significantly noticeable by a user. One may usein one embodiment of the present display screen or screen material thathas no or limited latency and can show images such as video in real-timewith a speed of at least 12 images or frames per second in oneembodiment, at least 20 images per second in a more preferredembodiment, 30 images per second in an even more preferred embodimentand at least 50 images or frames per second in a most preferredembodiment and shows images in full color. Accordingly, real-time videoin one embodiment is video displaying at least 12 frames per second.

In a further embodiment of the present invention one may use materialsuch as ePaper or eInk that has considerable latency and may show imagesat a speed of 10 images or frames per second or even less. Images may beshown in one embodiment of the present invention in shades of grey. Itwas already described previously that different materials to displayimages in accordance with an aspect of the present invention areavailable.

To be convenient the ut/ul display must be fairly large to serve itspurpose as a large screen, thin and ultra light. It is believed that ifa display does not meet certain dimensional criteria it will not serveits purpose as a detached portable large screen. It should have a screenof diagonal dimension of at least 10 cm, more preferably have a screenof diagonal dimension of at least 15 cm or preferably larger andpreferably have a diagonal dimension of 20 cm, preferably even larger.Preferably it has a thickness of not more than 10 mm, more preferablynot more than 7 mm, more preferable not more than 5 mm. Further,preferably a thickness should be less than 5 mm, preferably 3 mm orless, preferably 2 mm. The weight of the display should be preferably beless than 300 gram, in a further embodiment of the present inventionless than 200 gram and in yet a further embodiment less than 100 gram.Preferably, the portable and self contained ut/ul display should be ofthe size, weight, and thickness of a magazine that one would carrywithout being bothered by its weight. One should be able to carry theut/ul display in a bag or brief case, such as one would carry a magazineduring travel. In one embodiment the ut/ul display has a screen that isa touch screen and wherein the display can communicate in a two waymanner with the computing device. In a further embodiment the ut/uldisplay is connectable to a small footprint device that in a stand alonemode is mainly a mobile phone, but when connected with the displayprovided with touch screen capabilities is a full blown operationalcomputing device, enabled to perform computing applications such as thefull Microsoft Office® Suite of applications (Outlook, Word, Powerpoint,Excel, and Access), games, Internet browsing and the like.

Such a computing device in one embodiment has at least a processor, massstorage, display processing capability, communication capability, inputand output capabilities and a minimal display, with an operating systemand application software stored on the device while measuring not over 2cm by 3 cm by 10 cm3 in volume, preferably not more than 2 by 3 by 6 cm3in volume.

At the time that this invention was made one available display would bean eReader. However, eReaders currently are not available as a separateportable display for a computing device with preferably at least onelens/sensor unit. In fact, one can conclude that eReaders (such as theKindle II marketed by Amazon) are too small, too thick and too heavy tomeet the requirements of the ut/ul display as defined above. eReadersare also not geared to display images in real-time, such as videoimages, generated from a lens/sensor unit in the computing device, whichmay be a smart phone with a camera.

One can find reviews of commercially available eReaders on the Internet.Such a review may be found at for instance<http://ebook-reader-review.toptenreviews.com/>. The eReaders arerelatively small, thick and heavy. The battery as used in these eReaderscause the eReaders to be heavy and thick.

A separate and portable ut/ul display, which is preferably selfcontained and is enabled to communicate preferably wirelessly with acomputing device such as a cell phone is provided herein as one aspectof the present invention. In one embodiment of the present invention thedisplay is ultra thin. For instance in one embodiment the display is anultra thin ePaper or eInk like display in a thin housing, and in itsentirety not thicker than 5 mm. In a further embodiment the display witha portable housing has a thickness of 3 mm or thinner. The displayscreen material itself, for instance as announced by E. Ink corporationof Cambridge, Mass. is about 2 mm or thinner. Additional thickness orbulk is provided by a housing and in particular by a ultra-thin batteryto power the display.

It should be clear that the large display as provided as an aspect ofthe present invention is very well enabled to display a panoramic image.The screen material in a further embodiment of the present invention isenabled to display 3D images.

An external and separate mobile and portable display as disclosed hereinworks with a mobile and portable computing device. A computing devicehas at least a processor, memory, it has preferably but not necessarilya display that is smaller than an external display and a transmitter tosend a signal to the external display and least one lens/sensor unitenabled to record a digital image and transmit the image to the externaldisplay in real-time or close to real-time, allowing a user to watch inreal-time or close to real-time a video image in color recorded by thecomputing device. In one embodiment of the present invention thecomputing device with at least one lens/sensor unit is a generalcomputer working under an operating system and enabled to executestandard computer application software such as word-processing, e-mail,browsing, games and the like. In one embodiment of the present inventionthe computing device with at least one lens/sensor unit is a mobilephone, enabled to connect wirelessly to a mobile phone network. In oneembodiment of the present invention the computing device with at leastone lens/sensor unit as at least a mobile phone, enabled to connectwirelessly to a mobile phone network and a camera and is called a mobilecamera phone. In one embodiment of the present invention the computingdevice with at least one lens/sensor unit is a tablet PC with a screensmaller than the external display. In one embodiment of the presentinvention the computing device with at least one lens/sensor unit is asmart phone, or PDA, enabled to connect wirelessly to a mobile phonenetwork. In one embodiment of the present invention the computing devicewith at least one lens/sensor unit is a stand-alone camera. In a furtherembodiment of the present invention a computing device has at least twolens/sensor units and is enabled to create in real-time a single imagesuch as a video image that is created from at least two separate images.

The following patent applications, including the specification, claimsand drawings, are hereby incorporated by reference herein, as if theywere fully set forth herein: U.S. Non-Provisional patent applicationSer. No. 12/435,624 filed on May 5, 2009 and U.S. Non-Provisional patentapplication Ser. No. 12/436,874 filed on May 7, 2009, U.S.Non-Provisional patent application Ser. No. 12/538,401 filed on Aug. 10,2009, and U.S. Non-Provisional patent application Ser. No. 12/634,058filed on Dec. 9, 2009.

While there have been shown, described and pointed out fundamental novelfeatures of the invention as applied to preferred embodiments thereof,it will be understood that various omissions and substitutions andchanges in the form and details of the device illustrated and in itsoperation may be made by those skilled in the art without departing fromthe spirit of the invention. It is the intention, therefore, to belimited only as indicated by the scope of the claims appended hereto.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method for viewing by a user with a headof a video image of a scene, comprising: activating a camera, the camerabeing part of a mobile phone with a screen; establishing a wirelesscommunication connection between the mobile phone with the screen and ahandheld computing device with a screen; activating with a control onthe mobile phone the screen of the handheld computing device with thescreen to display in real-time the video image of the scene recordedwith the camera of the mobile phone with the screen; and switching offwith the control the screen of the mobile phone with the screen whilekeeping the camera activated.
 2. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: holding by the user of the mobile phone in a position abovethe head of the user; and viewing by the user of the video image of thescene recorded with the camera of the mobile phone with the screen onthe screen of the handheld computing device with the screen.
 3. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the handheld computing device with the screenis selected from the group consisting of smartphones and computertablets.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile phone is asmartphone.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the handheld computingdevice with the screen is not thicker than 5 mm.
 6. The method of claim1, further comprising: focusing a lens of the camera with a focusmechanism based on a focus setting determined with a focus sensor of thecamera, the focus setting being one of a plurality of focus settings ofthe lens; and focusing a lens of a second camera in the first portableand mobile computing device with a motor in one of a plurality of focussettings, the plurality of focus settings of the lens of the secondcamera corresponds with the plurality of focus settings of the camera,wherein the motor of the second camera is controlled by a signal basedon a focus setting determined by the focus sensor.
 7. A camera system torecord a video image of a scene, comprising: a handheld computing devicecontaining at least a screen enabled to display the video image; amobile phone containing at least a camera and a screen, the handheldcomputing device and the mobile phone devices being wirelesslycommunicatively connectable with each other; the camera of the mobilephone enabled to capture the video image of the scene; the screen of thehandheld computing device enabled to display the video image of thescene in real-time; and a control on the mobile phone to switch areal-time display of the video image of the scene recorded by the cameraof the mobile phone to the screen of the handheld computing device andto switch off the screen of the mobile phone while the camera remainsswitched on.
 8. The camera system of claim 7, wherein the handheldcomputing device is enabled to control the camera of the mobile phone.9. The camera system of claim 7, wherein handheld computing device amobile phone.
 10. The camera system of claim 7, wherein handheldcomputing device a computer tablet.
 11. The camera system of claim 7,wherein the handheld computing device is not thicker than 5 mm.
 12. Thecamera system of claim 7, further comprising: the camera including afocus mechanism to place a lens of the camera in one of a plurality offocus settings determined by a focus sensor; the mobile phone includinga second camera including a lens to be placed by a motor in one of aplurality of focus settings that corresponds to the plurality of focussettings of the camera; and the motor of the second camera is controlledby a signal based on a focus setting determined by the focus sensor. 13.The camera system of claim 7, wherein the mobile phone and the handheldcomputing device are smartphones.
 14. A mobile phone to record a videoimage of a scene to be displayed in real-time on a screen of a handheldcomputing device, comprising: the mobile phone including a camera torecord the video image of the scene and a screen, the mobile phoneenabled to establish a wireless communication connection with thehandheld computing device; a control on the mobile phone to activate thescreen of the handheld computing device to display in real-time thevideo image of the scene recorded by the camera; and the control on themobile phone enabled to switch off the screen of the mobile phone whilethe camera continues to operate.
 15. The mobile phone of claim 14,wherein the camera is enabled to be controlled by the handheld computingdevice.
 16. The mobile phone of claim 14, wherein the handheld computingdevice is not thicker than 5 mm.
 17. The mobile phone of claim 14,wherein the handheld computing device is not thicker than 3 mm.
 18. Themobile phone of claim 14, wherein the mobile phone is a smartphone. 19.The mobile phone of claim 14, wherein the handheld computing devices isselected from the group consisting of mobile phones and computertablets.
 20. The mobile phone of claim 14, further comprising: thecamera including a focus mechanism to place a lens of the camera in oneof a plurality of focus settings determined by a focus sensor; a secondcamera including a lens to be placed by a motor in one of a plurality offocus settings that corresponds to the plurality of focus settings ofthe camera, wherein the motor of the second camera is controlled by asignal based on a focus setting determined by the focus sensor.